“Never having an air of superiority from his knowledge, but al-ways edified by charity,” the Dominican friar whom contem-poraries already called the “Angelic Doctor” was “full of astonishing culture,” the Pope points out in the letter, which bears the date 30th June and signature at Saint John Lateran. “He wrote many works and taught countless subjects, and was well qualified in the philo-sophical and theological disciplines. He manifested righteous in-telligence and lucidity, and while reverently investigating the divine mysteries with reason, he contemplated them with fervent faith.”

The Pope’s message to the celebration of the 700th anniversary of the canonization of Thomas Aquinas on 18 July at Fossanova Abbey, Italy.