Feast Day Of Saint Thomas Aquinas - 7 March

On the side column in Wikipedia  the feast day of Saint Thomas Aquinas is on "28 January (ordinary form), 7 March (extraordinary form)." [1]

The canonization of Thomas Aquinas [2]:

When the devil's advocate at his canonization process objected that there were no miracles, one of the cardinals answered, "Tot miraculis, quot articulis"—"there are as many miracles (in his life) as articles (in his Summa)". Fifty years after Thomas's death, on 18 July 1323, Pope John XXII, seated in Avignon, pronounced Thomas a saint.

The "devil's advocate" is defined as [3]:

The advocatus diaboli (Latin for Devil's advocate) is a former official position within the Catholic Church, the Promoter of the Faith: one who "argued against the canonization (sainthood) of a candidate in order to uncover any character flaws or misrepresentation of the evidence favoring canonization".

Quoted from Wikipedia [4]:

His best-known works are the Disputed Questions on Truth (1256–1259), the Summa contra Gentiles (1259–1265), and the unfinished but massively influential Summa Theologica a.k.a. Summa Theologiae (1265–1274). His commentaries on Scripture and on Aristotle also form an important part of his body of work. Furthermore, Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns, which form a part of the church's liturgy. The Catholic Church honors Thomas Aquinas as a saint and regards him as the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood, and indeed the highest expression of both natural reason and speculative theology

Thomas Aquinas' "just war doctrine" [5]:

Thomas Aquinas, centuries after Augustine of Hippo, used the authority of Augustine's arguments in an attempt to define the conditions under which a war could be just. He laid these out in his historic work, Summa Theologica:

• First, war must occur for a good and just purpose rather than the pursuit of wealth or power.
• Second, just war must be waged by a properly instituted authority such as the state.
• Third, peace must be a central motive even in the midst of violence.

On the "just war" doctrine, a question and two articles follow:

1.  Going to war leads inevitably to killing.  Does that not violate one of the Ten Commandments:  "Thou shalt not kill?"  Exodus 20:13 [6]

2.  There are many articles online that maintain that "just war" is warranted, practically and theologically.  This is one of them: https://christiananswers.net/q-faith/fc-warperspectives.html

3.  Quoted below is what Business Insider  included in one of its recent articles entitled Biden is on the verge of making the same dangerous mistakes as the presidents before him [7]: 

In a famous speech, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, son of a president and destined himself to occupy the White House, warned Americans against the temptation to go "abroad in search of monsters to destroy."

To indulge in this temptation, Adams believed, was to risk involving the United States "beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom."

This aptly describes the situation in which the United States finds itself today, mired in senseless "forever wars," maintaining over 800 foreign bases, seeking to contain the rise of China by military intimidation, and expending roughly a trillion dollars a year for what is loosely termed national security, even as hundreds of thousands of Americans are felled by disease. There is something radically amiss with the reigning ideas of security.

...

President Dwight Eisenhower once warned against the dangers of the "Military Industrial Complex." Simply put, the defense industry is big business. It makes a lot of money and creates some jobs, which, in turn, buys lobbying power.

The defense industry is not the only one exerting influence on Washington. There are also many foreign powers that support the status quo because it benefits their own political interests in their respective regions. Both groups have vast resources to spread around and gain influence. Too often, the results are unnecessary conflicts or tensions with countries - from Cuba to Libya to Iraq to Iran - that don't pose a significant threat to the American people.

For those who would like to learn more about Saint Thomas Aquinas can visit Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/

Other thoughts:

1.  God gave Saint Thomas Aquinas the gifts of intellect, knowledge and more.

2.  God gave Saint Francis of Assisi the gifts of a vision, the stigmata and more.

3.  St. Thomas Aquinas focused mainly on learning, philosophy and music [8] whereas St. Francis of Assisi focused mainly on humility, poverty and prayer.

Copied below is from Works Of The Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi, St. Pius X Press, (ISBN-13 : 978-1468130591), pages 118-119:

                      CONFERENCE  XV.

Of those who Apply themselves to Learning.

THOSE Brothers who study from curiosity will find

their hands empty in the day of tribulation.  There-

fore I would rather they be strengthened in

virtue, that when the day the trial comes, they may

have the Lord with them in their anguish; for a time

of tribulation will come, when their books will be

thrown away as useless.  I do not wish my Brothers

to be too anxious for books and knowledge; but I

desire them to be grounded in holy Humility and pure

Simplicity, in holy Prayer, and my Lady Poverty.

This is the only secure way to our own salvation, and

the edification of others; for Christ, Whom the

Brethren are bound to imitate, has taught us only

this way, both by His Word and example.  Many

Brethren, under pretense of edifying others, will turn

aside from their vocation, which is Holy Humility, pure

Simplicity, Prayer and Devotion, and our Lady holy

Poverty.  And it will happen to them that, while they

imagine they are full of devotion, inflamed with love,

and illuminated with the knowledge of God through

their understanding the Holy Scriptures, they will,

on this very account, remain cold and vain; and thus

they will not be able to return to their first vocation,

because they have lost the time of living as they

ought, in vain and false study.

 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas#Revelation

[2] Ibid., quoted without hyperlinks and references.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_advocate, quoted without emphasis, hyperlinks and references.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas#Revelation, quoted without hyperlinks and references.

[5] Ibid., quoted without hyperlinks and references.

[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A13&version=DRA

[7] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-is-on-the-verge-of-making-the-same-dangerous-mistakes-as-the-presidents-before-him/ar-BB1e4jwY?ocid=msedgdhp

[8] "Though not a prolific writer of hymns, St. Thomas has contributed to the long list of Latin hymns some which have been in use in the services of the Church of Rome from his day to this. They are upon the subject of the Lord's Supper. The best known are:—

Pange lingua gloriosi Corporis Mysterium [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-AsvDn87fo];

Adoro te devote latens Deitas [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2xX8tWaTx4];

Sacris sollemniis juncta sint gaudia [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqGN8HSPDSs];

Lauda Sion Salvatorem [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjyFJBABHFw];

and Verbum supernum prodiens [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjIa2cMYjy4].

The 1st, 3rd, and 5th of these are found in the Roman Breviary, the 2nd, 4th, and 5th in Newman's Hymni Ecclesiae; the 4th in the Roman Missal; all of them appear in Daniel; the 2nd and 4th in Mone; and the 2nd, 4th, and 5th in Königsfeld."

(Quoted from https://hymnary.org/person/Aquinas_T?tab=tunes, click on "See More.")