835 angelic doctor the new man; and anticipating the judgment of God through the pious examination [of conscience] and inquiring by their own will into their faults and voluntarily doing penance, there is fashioned in the end, by the help of the Angelic Doctor, an angel out of [this new] man. I believe I have spent too much time proving this part [of the argument], Learned Hearers, and I seem to myself to have offended your benevolence, [and] to have exacerbated [your] kindness. Wherefore I hurry to the end, only adding for the cause of more firmly strengthening [my argument], what the Roman Oracle pronounced about the doctrine of Aquinas. This was John the 22nd,46 the Roman Pontiff who, when he enrolled this saint in the album of saints, said that no miracles were necessary to confirm his sanctity, because there were as many miracles accomplished, as there were lines written. If therefore his doctrine is to be so admired that each question is said to be a miracle, who finally would deny it that it is angelic and likewise would not grant him the merited title of Angelic Doctor?47 Truly for me, having examined the matter more closely, the title presented and confirmed seems to be too little a reward for such great virtue and wisdom. Therefore as a supplement to our weakness, let us name this saint according to the opinion of many the flower of theology, the glory of philosophy, the jewel of the sciences; let us name [him] the delight of geniuses, the sanctuary of religion, the fulcrum of the Church, the shield of the Catholic Faith; let us name [him] the hammer of heretics, the light of the schools, Theodidact,48 [for he] drank from the very fount of divinity; let us name [him] a brilliant lamp-stand, a burning torch, a shining light of holiness, virtue and knowledge; let us name [him] a most splendid star, a most noble pearl, a treasure house of every kind 46 Pope John XXII canonized St. Thomas in 1323. Cf. BR, p. 1046. 47 St. Thomas Aquinas was declared “Doctor Angelicus” by Pope Pius V in 1567. Cf. BR, pp. 1046-1047. 48 This is a Greek word: θεοδίδακτος, which means: “taught by God.” For reference, a form of this word is used by St. Paul in 1 Thess 4:9.
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