The firebrand c. 1244, the family castle
His family wanted him out of the Dominicans, so they shut him up in the castle. His brothers sent a woman to his room to break his resolve. Thomas took a burning stick from the hearth and drove her out. Then he burned a cross into the wall and knelt before it. In the early accounts, two angels then girded him with a cord, and he was never troubled by that temptation again.
From the traditional accounts, mainly William of Tocco, who knew Thomas’s circle.
the incense rises
Adoro te devote
a hymn to Christ in the Eucharist, written by St. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas is said to have written it for the feast of Corpus Christi. It is seven short verses, here in brief.
- A hidden God, truly present beneath these appearances, and the whole heart gives itself to him.
- Sight, touch and taste are all fooled here. Only hearing can be trusted, so I take the Son of God at his word.
- On the cross only his divinity was hidden. Here his humanity is hidden too, and I believe both, asking what the penitent thief asked.
- I cannot see his wounds as Thomas did, yet I call him my God. Deepen my faith, my hope and my love.
- The memorial of the Lord’s death, the living bread. Let my mind live on him and always taste his sweetness.
- The pious pelican, Jesus the Lord: wash me in your blood, one drop of which can save the whole world from sin.
- Jesus, veiled now: grant what I thirst for, that I may see your face unveiled and be blessed with the sight of your glory.
The sixth verse is where the pelican comes from. Medieval tradition said she fed her young with her own blood, and Thomas names Christ the pious pelican. It is the bird on the computer’s frame.
pray it in full at aquinas.cc, in Latin and English →Open Hymns and Songs, then “Godhead Here in Hiding”.
Teresa of Ávila wrote The Interior Castle in 1577. She pictures the soul as a castle made of a single diamond, with seven rooms inside one another. God lives in the center, and the way in is prayer.
at the door
Stand at the outer wall. Each step in goes one room deeper.
Read it free: The Interior Castle, at ccel.org →
Thérèse of Lisieux called herself a little flower. Her “little way” has five petals. Pick one.
Read her own account, free: Story of a Soul, at ccel.org →
Tap next for each prayer, or use the left and right arrow keys.
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary …
V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary …
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
The bell is rung three times, three times, then nine. In the season of Easter, the Regina Caeli is prayed in place of the Angelus.
// the works of st. thomas
- Summa Theologiae
- Contra Gentiles
- Sentences
- Disputed Questions
- Catena Aurea
- Gospels
- Pauline Epistles
- Old Testament
- Aristotle
- Other Commentaries
- Treatises
- Polemics
- Collations & Letters
- Sermons & Prayers
Texts hosted at aquinas.cc, in Latin and English.
click the computer for apologetics · the bookshelf for the works of Aquinas