St. Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of Catholic education. For most of his life, this brilliant saint was either on the giving or receiving end of learning. And for many centuries, people of different religions and backgrounds have turned to the wisdom found in his writings.

Father Robert T. Lubic, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Perryopolis and administrator of St. Hedwig Parish in Smock, believes St. Thomas Aquinas has much to offer in the modern world.

Father Lubic pointed to a famous quote by St. Thomas Aquinas: "All I have written is straw compared to what I have seen." St. Thomas was referring to a vision he had that left him in awe and caused him to cease writing the "Summa Theologica," which he never completed.

"Anyone the least bit familiar with this saint realizes that he wrote a lot, and what he wrote is considered — even among secular thinkers— as being among the greatest achievements of the human mind," he said.

"For him to say that all his wisdom was ‘as straw’ really drives home the point of the immensity and incomprehensibility of God vis-à-vis our limited human intellect. My mind overflows with excitement when I contemplate the world of unimaginable possibilities, undreamable adventures, unfathomable mysteries dimly foreshadowed by this statement," he said.

But Father Lubic also cautioned that we should not take St. Thomas Aquinas’ statement to mean that we should not try to understand the world around us or the mysteries of God.

"I have no doubt that Aquinas would argue that we have the duty to use the God-given gift of human reason to explore the questions the world places before us," he said.

Although he is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential theologians of all time, the life of St. Thomas Aquinas does not seem all that extraordinary. His family descended from nobility and lived in a castle in Italy. When he was five years old, he was taken to the Benedictine abbey of Monte Casino to be educated. He later went on to study at the University of Naples.

At 19, he decided to join a mendicant Dominican order. His mother opposed his decision, preferring that he become a Benedictine, and he was brought back home. After a time, his family relented, and he was allowed to rejoin the Dominicans.

St. Thomas returned to school in Paris and Cologne. After completing his studies, his life centered on teaching and writing. He taught at universities in Italy and France, and his voluminous writings included treatises, expositions and commentaries. His greatest work is "Summa Theologica," which focuses on Catholic theology.

St. Thomas Aquinas died at about the age of 50 on March 7, 1274. He was canonized in 1323. Pope Pius V proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church, and Pope Leo XIII pronounced him the patron saint of all universities, colleges and schools.

"This great saint’s combination of unmatched intellectual curiosity and willingness to humbly bow before mystery makes him the ideal patron of Catholic education," said Father Lubic, who also serves as chaplain for Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School in Connellsville.

"We challenge students to use their God-given intellect to the fullest, while accepting that the answers to the ultimate questions of life lay beyond what our minds can rationally grasp and, therefore, can only be approached from the vantage point of faith."