The Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas is Celebrated at the Basilica

Image Courtesy of Catholic University

By Zachary Lichter

This year, classes were canceled between 11:15 am – 3:00 pm and across campus, Campus Ministry displayed posters that said “No Class, Go to Mass.” The students of CUA, along with the Board of Trustees and President John Garvey, were all allowed to celebrate at full capacity. Mass began at 12:10 PM in the upper church of the Basilica. The mass was also live-streamed on the Catholic TV Network (Catholic TV) and the Eternal World Network (EWTN).

“I think people should go to this Mass; it will be the first opportunity of the year for the entire community to worship and gather with one another,” said senior politics major and theology minor Fernando Cordova. “Masses like these are all about community, and that’s something that everyone should experience.”

Very Reverend Dominic Legge, the Director of The Thomistic Institute, was the celebrant. He was assisted by Reverend Brother Damian Marie Day. The concelebrants included many of the Dominican friars and Father Jude, Catholic University’s chaplain. Mass began with a welcome address from Garvey. The Gospel was delivered in chant by Deacon Damian, and Father Dominic delivered the homily.

St. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy. He was sent at age five to a Benedictine monastery and finished his schooling in Naples, where he became attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy. In 1243, he joined the Dominicans and became a Dominican priest and philosopher. As a Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas is most notably known for his philosophical and theological writings, specifically the Summa Theologiae, also known as the Summa Theologica, which was a book about his Catholic theology (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-thomas-aquinas).

“I think we see Aquinas’s greatness, most clearly in the breath and the power of synthesis that his mind was able to articulate!” said Director of the Thomistic Institute, Very Reverend Dominic Legge, O.P., during his homily. “That aims at understanding the whole and that according to Aquinas is the definition of wisdom.”

The mass ended with a closing remark from Garvey and a blessing from Father Dominic. St. Thomas Aquinas is not only a philosopher, Dominican theologian, and priest,  but also the patron saint of Catholic University and many Catholic schools across the country. This mass is celebrated at the start of the spring semester in the Basilica every year.

“I think that because Aquinas was (and is still!) such a formidable theologian, people, myself included, can sometimes be a little intimidated by his works,” said freshman theology major Michael Ellison. “But this mass is a great way to make him seem less distant and bring him a little closer to heart, and to get to know him better, and to allow him to inspire you to use your gifts and talents to the service of God as well. If God could use a man like St. Thomas Aquinas, who left his family, failed school, and was called a ‘dumb ox,’ to do such amazing things, He can absolutely use any of us too!”