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Excerpts from "The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review of Theology and Philosophy".

Volume XV, No. 1, January, 1952

The Authority of St. Thomas Aquinas

https://archive.org/details/AuthorityOfSt.ThomasRamirezJacobusM.O.P/mode/2up

P. 21-23:

John XXII, who canonized St. Thomas, said before the Cardinals in Consistory, when a motion was initiated to begin the process of canonization: 

His life was saintly and his doctrine could only be miraculous . . . because he enlightened the Church more than all the other Doctors. By the use of his works a man would profit more in one year than if he studied the doctrine of others for his whole life. 

At the completion of the process of canonization, when more than 300 miracles performed by St. Thomas had been recounted, the Pontiff said:

Why should we seek more miracles? He has performed as many miracles as he wrote articles. Truly this glorious Doctor, after the Apostles and the early Doctors, has greatly enlightened the Church. 


Clement VI, in his Apostolic Letter In Ordine Fratrum Praedicatorum of Feb. 6, 1344, directed to all the faithful, praised the Order of Preachers for producing:

That famous and fruitful branch, the blessed Thomas of Aquin, outstanding doctor and confessor. The whole Church, gathering many fruits of his spiritual maturity from the writing and teaching of his wisdom and doctrine, is continually refreshed by their aroma. 

Further, the same Pontiff proclaimed in the Dominican General Chapter held at Brives in 1346, that all the brethren are expressly forbidden even to dare to withdraw from the doctrine of St. Thomas. 

For Blessed Urban V the mind of St. Thomas was the "treasury of divine wisdom," which, with the aid of divine grace, "has unlocked the hidden things of Scripture, solved its puzzles, brought light to its difficulties, and cleared up its questions." 

And he added, "At Toulouse there is a new university for theology which We wish to be founded on the solid and firm doctrine of that saint.

St. Pius V, who declared him a Doctor of the Universal Church, recognized in Thomas "the most brilliant light of the Church," whose works are:

the most certain rule of Christian doctrine by which he enlightened the Apostolic Church in answering conclusively numberless errors..., which illumination has often been evident in the past and recently stood forth prominently in the decrees of the Council of Trent. He also said of Aquinas that "his theological doctrine, accepted by the Catholic Church, outshines every other as being safer and more secure." 


P. 24 

For Paul V, St. Thomas is the shining athlete of the Catholic faith:

By the shield of whose works the Church Militant happily escaped the darts of heretics, defender of the Catholic Church and conqueror of heretics. 

Making this idea his own, Benedict XIII wrote to the brethren of the Order of Preachers:

Pursue with energy your Doctor's works, more brilliant than the sun and written without the shadow of error. These works made the Church illustrious with wonderful erudition, since they march ahead and proceed with unimpeded step, protecting and vindicating by that surest rule of Christian doctrine, the truth of our holy religion. 


P. 26

Pope Leo XIII: 

This is the greatest glory of Thomas, altogether his own and shared with no other Catholic Doctor, that the Fathers of Trent, in order to proceed in an orderly fashion during the conclave, desired to have opened upon the altar together with the Scriptures and the decrees of the Supreme Pontiffs, the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas whence they could draw counsel, reasons and answers. 

P. 28:

Pope Leo XIII:

This point is vital, that Bishops expend every effort to see that young men, destined to be the hope of the Church, should be imbued with the holy and heavenly doctrine of the Angelic Doctor. In those places where young men have devoted themselves to the patronage and doctrine of St. Thomas, true wisdom will nourish, drawn as it is from solid principles, and explained by reason in an orderly fashion. 


We know that the Catholic clergy will be more solidly penetrated by divine science the more fully and thoroughly it is imbued with the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas. The more the clergy is penetrated by the doctrine of St. Thomas, the more it will go forth instructed with stronger bases for a solid faith, and so much the more fruitful and useful will be its ministry to the faithful. Furthermore, those who impede Catholic truth with fallacious arguments will find its defenders better prepared, and supplied with excellent weapons for a strenuous defence. 


P. 32-33

Pius X said then that he wanted no other doctrine than that of Thomas in the Church of God, in view of the fact that his is the pure, solid, complete doctrine of the Church, and more than that, the doctrine of Christ Himself and of God Himself. From this the meaning of what he wrote a few days before to the College of St. Anselm in Rome is clearly evident:

That the privilege of conferring all the academic degrees in philosophy and theology may bear more abundant fruit for the Order and the Church, We desire and command that the Professors of the College of St. Anselm always follow the doctrine of Aquinas in philosophy and theology, and use the text itself in their lectures to the students of Theology who are working for degrees.