his resolution. This circumstance, which, perhaps, they did not expect, caused them to resort to means reproved by humanity as well as by religion. They began the assault by shutting him up in a tower of the castle. They tore in pieces his habit, and after bitter reproaches and threats, they left him, hoping his confinement, and the mortification every one strove to give him, would have the desired effect.

He suffered this imprisonment and persecution without a murmur for a year, some authors say for two years, when at length the report of his sufferings reached the ears of Pope Innocent IV., and of the emperor Frederick II. These personages became much interested in his case, and remonstrated in his favour with the countess and his brothers, who soon began to relent in their harshness. We are told that the Dominicans of Naples, being informed of this, sent some disguised religious to the castle of Rocca-Secca where one of his sisters, knowing that the countess was no longer opposed to his escape, contrived. his being let down out of the tower in a basket. His religious brethren received him into their arms and bore him with great joy to their convent in Naples.

Thomas made his religious profession the following year. His mother and brothers loudly disapproved of his profession, and going so far as to assign odious motives for the step he had taken, they carried their complaints to the pope. Thereupon, Innocent summoned the young novice to Rome and examined him in their presence, but was well pleased with his answers. The pontiff greatly admired his virtues, approved of the state of life he had chosen, and recommended to him to persevere in it. He was no longer annoyed by his family.

After a little time John the Teutonic, the general of the Order, went to Paris, and took Thomas with him. From thence they went to Cologne, where Albertus Magnus then taught with great reputation, and where Thomas became his pupil.

We will here make a slight digression in regard to Albert, as we think our readers would like to know something more of so famous a character than his mere name. He was born in 1193. His natal city was Laving, in Suabia, and his family that of the counts of Bollstadt. The surname of Magnus was not given him, as may well be conceived, on account of his stature, which was comparatively small, but on account of the greatness of his science and of his renown. His parents sent him to study

at Padua. About 1222, at the age of 28 or 29 years, he entered the Order of St. Dominic, and in the course of time, he became one of its most renowned professors.

Albertus was the wonder of his age, as well for his knowledge and discoveries in the physical sciences and arts, as for his great work on the philosophy of Aristotle, to which he consecrated six folio volumes-a work, by the way, which shows conclusively that he was not the blind or tame follower of the Greek philosopher, that some shallow writers have imagined him to be.

In 1254, he was elected provincial of his order for Germany. In the convents he visited in this capacity, his greatest care was in copying books. The pope sent him to Poland, in order to put an end to the barbarous custom that prevailed there of killing deformed children and invalid old people. After having declined many dignities which His Holiness offered him, he accepted the bishopric of Ratisbonne. But the administration of a 'diocese took too much time from the studies which he loved, and which had become a kind of necessity to him; so, after the third year, he resigned his bishopric, reentered his convent at Cologne, and resumed his labours as a teacher and writer.

The chroniclers of the time relate two extraordinary facts in the life of Albertus. The first is, that, from being originally a dull and stupid youth, he suddenly became a person of amazing intellectual powers, so that he was for several years afterwards the light and the glory of his order. The second is, that, while in the pulpit, in the midst of a sermon, and without any apparent disease, he suddenly lost all his intellectual powers.

Such was the man whose lessons Thomas attended. All the time the duties of religion left him free, the disciple consecrated to study, retrenching part of that which was allowed for his meals and sleep-not," as F. Weninger assures us, "from the desire of the applause of men, but for the advancement of God's honour and the interests of religion."* His humility made him conceal his perception and progress, so that his fellow-students thought he learned nothing, and on account of his reticence, called him, in derision, the Dumb Ox, or the Great Sicilian Ox. One of them, we are told, once offered to explain his lessons to him; he thankfully listened

*Legende der Heiligan.

although he was then capable of teaching the would-be instructor.

But his genius and learning were at last discovered, in spite of his endeavours to conceal them. His master, having propounded to him several questions on the most knotty and obscure points, his answers were such as to astonish the audience; and Albertus, unable to contain his admiration and joy, exclaimed: "We call Thomas the Dumb Ox; but one day he will give such a loud bellowing in learning, that it will be heard all over the world." This applause, we are told, excited no movement of vanity in the humble student. There was no change noticed in his conduct, because there was no change in his interior; it was always the same-the same simplicity, the same love for retirement, silence, and prayer. It was in the first year of his studies under Albertus, that he wrote his Commentaries on the Ethics of Aristotle.

The General Chapter of the Dominicans held at Cologne, in 1245, deputed Albertus to teach in Paris, in their college of St. James, which the University had given them. Thomas was sent with him to continue his studies under him, and there his talents shone with incredible splendour. Still his obedience was equal to his profound humility, as the following incident will show: one day, whilst he read in the refectory, the corrector bade him, by mistake, to pronounce a word with a false quantity, or, as some would say, incorrectly; and although he had pronounced it properly, and was aware of the fact, yet he readily obeyed. When told by his brethren, after dinner, that he ought to have persevered in giving it the right pronunciation, his answer was: "It matters but little how a word is pronounced; but to practise humility and obedience upon all occasions is of the greatest import

ance."

In 1248, being twenty-two years of age, he was appointed by the General Chapter to teach at Cologne, with his old master Albertus, whose high reputation he equalled in his first lessons. He then also began to publish his first works, which consist of commentaries on the ethics and other philosophical works of Aristotle. No one was more courteous and affable; but it was his practice to shun all unnecessary visits.

In his zeal for the salvation of others, Thomas did not forget his own relations. The lively interest he took in their welfare inspired him with the ardent desire of seeing them walk in the paths of justice. His exhortations, and

more particularly his example, exercised a powerful influence on them.

Thomas, after teaching four years at Cologne, was sent, in 1252, to Paris. His reputation for perspicuity and solidity drew immediately to his school a great number of students. It was with great reluctance, and only in virtue of obedience, that he consented to receive, in October, 1257, the degree of Doctor, being then only thirtyone years old.

The manner of teaching then was not as it is, in general, at present, by dictating lessons which the students write; but it was according to the practice that still obtains partly in some schools, and particularly in medical colleges. The master delivered his explanation like a harangue, the students retaining what they could, and often taking notes to help their memory.

Academical degrees were also different then from what they now are, being conferred on none but those who taught. To be a Master of Arts, a person must have studied six years at least, and be twenty-one years old; and to be qualified for teaching divinity, he must have studied eight years more, and be at least thirty-five years old. Nevertheless, Thomas, by a dispensation of the University, on account of his distinguished learning and merit, was allowed to teach at twenty-five. The usual way was for one named a bachelor, to explain the "Master of the Sentences" for one year in the school of some doctor, upon whose testimony after certain rigorous public examinations and other formalities, the bachelor was admitted to the degree of licentiate, which gave him the right of teaching as a Doctor. He employed the second year in expounding the Master of the Sentences, after which he received from the Chancellor of the University the degree of Doctor.

The learned were not the only persons that rendered justice to the rare merit of Thomas. St. Louis, king of France, had great confidence in his enlightened judgment, and asked his advice upon the most important state affairs. He invited him often to his table, an honour which the humble Dominican declined as often as it was possible. When, however, he was obliged to accept it, he appeared at court as unpretending and as self-possessed as when he was in his convent. It is related of him, that being one day at the king's table, the following incident occurred: He had been for some time engaged in refuting the doctrine of the Bulgarians or New Manichees, which

had recently been renewed in Italy. His head being full of the matter, and his mind intensely occupied with the profound reflections he had been making, he suddenly cried out: "The argument is conclusive against the Manichees."* His prior who was with him bade him remember where he was. Thomas would have begged pardon of the king, but that prince, fearing that the theologian would forget the argument that had occurred to his mind, caused his own secretary to write it down for him.

Thomas assisted at the thirty-sixth chapter of his order, which was held in 1259 at Valencennes. There he was deputed, conjointly with Albertus Magnus and three other doctors, to draw up rules for studies, which are still extant in the acts of that chapter. Returning to Paris he there continued his teaching.

Pope Urban IV., who knew his merit, called him, in 1261, to Rome, and by his order the general appointed him to teach there. That pontiff wished several times to raise him to ecclesiastical dignities, but Thomas refused them all, preferring the state of a simple religious to that of dignities which, according to Rohrbacher, ambition would have coveted less, if it were capable of knowing the dangers that surround them. The pope, however, obliged him to attend his person, and that was all he could obtain of him. Thus it was that he taught and preached in all the towns where that pontiff resided, as in Rome, Viterbo, Orvieto, Fondi, Perugia. He also taught at Bologna, Naples, &c.

The Dominicans having held their fortieth general chapter in London in the year 1273, Thomas assisted at it, and soon after retired from teaching. He now rejoiced to see himself reduced to the state of a private religious man. Pope Clement IV. had such a regard for him that, in 1265, among other ecclesiastical preferments, he made him an offer of the archbishopric of Naples, but could not prevail on him to accept that or any other. It was at Bologna that he wrote the first part of his theological Summa.

From December, in 1273, until the 7th of March following, the day of his death, he neither wrote nor dictated anything on theological matters. From that time he laid aside his studies, to fix his thoughts on eternity. Pope Gregory X. had called a general council at Lyons,

*Conclusum est contra Manichaeos.

Histoire Universelle de l'Eglise Catholique.