I've never been an exceptionally good student. I'll save you the details, but suffice to say that school and I have never been totally compatible.

But I've been slowly beginning some post-Baccalaureate work at night after I get off work and I have a big final tonight that I do not feel well prepared to tackle. If you get a chance today or this afternoon, drop a quick prayer in for me tonight, I'd appreciate it.

Saint Thomas Aquinas is one of the great "Doctors of the Church". His unfinished opus, Summa Theologica is considered one of the finest theological works in religious and philosophical history.

Thomas was born in Italy in 1225, the wealthy son of Italian nobility. As a Dominican friar, he was a master theologian and lecturer in Rome, theology professor and regent of studies at the University of Paris, he was an advisor to both popes and kings. Though Thomas was respected as an academic, he wasn't really well liked by his fellow friars. Aquinas did not actively partake the Domenican practice of mortification, and wasn't reputed as much of a conversationalist. Some of the other friars gave him the nickname The Dumb Ox; Saint Thomas Aquinas was fat and had slow speech-- an uncharacteristic trait for Domenicans, the Order of Preachers, known for their skill in oratory and rhetoric.

Summa Theologica is his penultimate work, covering Epistomology and Ethics. The "Summary of Theology" was designed as an introductory text to the study of God, and it still read and taught in philosophy and theology classes. It is considered one of the finest works in the Western Canon. The Summa is set up in a "Question and Answer" format, where he posits a question, then answers it. If you've read a lot of Philosophy, Aquinas is nice because his format is clear, but so dense that my eyes gloss over if I read some of the long sections. The work was considered so important that at the great Council of Trent, Summa Theologica was placed on the altar with the Holy Bible and the Decretals of the Church.

But before the Summa was finished, Thomas Aquinas experienced a divine revelation that changed his life. He didn't say much about what he saw, but indicated that his vision was so fantastic that everything he had ever written-- including the great Summa-- was like "straw in the wind"; he abandoned his famous life's work. Overweight, overworked and in failing health, he was sent to the Second Council of Lyons to work for unity between the Latin and Greek churches. Within a few months, Thomas was dead.

Saint Thomas Aquinas is the patron of academics, scholars, students and learning, schools, colleges and universities, against storms and lightning. He is the patron saint of publishers, book sellers and pencil makers. He is the namesake of countless cities, schools and colleges.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.