Saint Thomas of Villanova

This Saint Thomas (1488 – 1555), of noble Spanish lineage, and had it all, as the saying goes, taking as his ‘last name’ the place from which he came, Villanueva. Like Christ, although rich, he became poor, even as a child giving his clothes to those less fortunate, and would be found walking around (nearly?) naked. (I doubt a saint, even as a little boy, would go full Monty, as the Wikipedia entry seems to imply).

Although burdened with a bad memory, Thomas went to university, eventually becoming a teacher of the liberal arts – grammar, logic, philosophy – and in 1516 decided to join the Augustinians, the same order that Luther soon afterwards abandoned to follow his own way. And, of course, it is also the Order to which our current pontiff, Pope Leo, belongs. In the mystery of His will, God always provides. Thomas was ordained a priest two years later. His sermons were renowned, moving even Emperor Charles V (who himself ended up in a monastery at the end of his reign). Thomas was not loathe to criticize his fellow bishops.

Against his own will, he was appointed one of those bishops in 1544, of Valencia, and continued his tireless work for the poor. His aim was not simply to throw money at them – as modern governments do in their socialist and counterproductive prodigality – but to remove the causes of their poverty, so they could stand on their own two feet. Thomas practised the principle of subsidiarity before that term was defined in 1931 by Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno, that we should allow a lower authority to exercise its proper function, without undue interference, and help only time of need. As he wrote,

Charity is not just giving, rather removing the need of those who receive charity and liberating them from it when possible.

Saint Thomas also set up a college for ‘Moorish’ converts, that is, Spanish Muslims who had entered the Church in the wake of the Reconquista, the taking back of Spain in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella, after centuries of Islamic domination.

Thomas died on Our Lady’s birthday, September 8th, 1555, of angina, and was very popular up to the modern era. Villanova University is named after him, and, although we will not burden the reader with the scandal-plagued college, the place could certainly use its patron’s intercession.

May Saint Thomas pray for us all on this day, for our Pope, our bishops, our bishops and the Augustinian Order, that we may all find our way through the Way, the Truth and the Life.

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