The Legacy of the Angelic Doctor

By Emma Thompson

Hodges Chapel is located in Birmingham, Alabama, on the campus of Samford University. It is part of Beeson Divinity School, which was founded in 1988. In 1995 the school opened the Andrew Gerow Hodges Chapel. The chapel is designed in a neoclassical style. The interior of the chapel’s copper clad dome painted with an elaborate mural depicting significant figures throughout the history of the church. These images were commissioned from Romanian-born artist Petru Boteza. Beeson Divinity School was founded as an interdenominational school and is committed to the principles “characterized in the Protestant Reformation” (Beeson Divinity School 2023). Not all of the figures depicted in the chapel are associated with Protestantism, one of these is Thomas Aquinas. Thomas is a significant figure of the medieval Western church and remains a central figure in Roman Catholic theology.

Thomas Aquinas in Hodges Chapel

In the painting of Thomas in Hodges Chapel, he is depicted in the robe of a friar, holding a bible. His robe and bible represent his passion for Christianity and his dedication to the friar’s life, part of which was ascetic poverty, represented by the cup and loaf of bread next to Thomas. Another possible interpretation of the cup and loaf of bread since it is on a cloth with a cross on it, is that it could symbolize his ideas on communion and transubstantiation. Thomas forumulated the doctrine of transubstantiation: he believed that with a priest’s recital of Christ’s words the bread and wine at communion were changed into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, which is a belief that the Roman Catholic Church holds. To the left of Thomas is a book with a paper bearing the names of two of his books Summa Theologiae and Summa Contra Gentiles. Summa Theologiae aimed to describe the relationship between God and man for beginning theologians, while Summa Contra Gentiles aimed to explain the Christian faith and relationship between God and man in a more in-depth way.

Another notable symbol in the painting of Thomas is a group of angels around his head and a halo, this symbolizes Thomas’s status as a saint. He is highly esteemed in the Roman Catholic Church for his contributions to the doctrine and his writings on religion and philosophy. The angels surrounding his head could also be interpreted as having to do with an experience that Thomas had towards the end of his life. It is noted in the Hodges Chapel guide book that Thomas had an extraordinary vision of Christ, and after the vision he said that he could write no more and that he had seen things that made all his writings seem insignificant or like straw. (Beeson Divinity School) In the background behind Thomas Aquinas in Hodges Chapel is a depiction of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, symbolizing the time Thomas spent studying philosophy in Paris, France. Thomas was a man of faith, a great philosopher and established the basis of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic faith.

Thomas’s Formation

Thomas was a theologian and philosopher. Often he is often times referred to as the angelic doctor. He was called the angelic doctor not only because of his virtues, but also because of his great capacity for thought and the purity by which his life was characterized. Thomas Aquinas had extremely strong morals that were displayed in his writings and lived a pure and exemplary life, this contributed to his being named a saint (Benedict XVI, 2010).

Thomas Aquinas is acclaimed as one of the greatest of the scholastic philosophers. He was born near the town Aquino in Italy, in 1225 to a wealthy family. Most of his childhood was spent living in the monastery of Monte Cassino as a prospective monk; his parents sent him there at the age of five. After nine years in the monastery, he entered the University of Naples, this is where he first encountered scientific and philosophical works. His parents had hoped that he would rise to the position of an abbot, as his holding this position would have brought wealth and prestige to his family. Thomas saw value in a life of ascetic poverty, practicing severe self-discipline and denying worldly indulgences, and committed himself to this lifestyle. When he was about twenty years old, he disappointed his family by joining a poor order of preachers founded thirty years earlier known as the Order of Friars Preachers, the Order of Preachers or the Dominican Order (Turner 2014).

Thomas Aquinas and Scholasticism

The Order of Preachers highly valued education, and so they sent Thomas to Paris to study philosophy. On his way to Paris, his parents had him abducted, and he spent fifteen months in captivity. His family held him hostage in Roccasecca Castle in hopes that they could persuade him to renounce his vocation. Eventually after he did not waiver in his dedication to his calling they gave up and released him. Following his fifteen months of captivity, he went to the convent of Saint Jacques in Paris to study. This was the university center of the Dominicans. The convent of Saint Jacques was one of the first scholastic institutions. This means that it was a place of learning apart from the church or monasteries. The convent of Saint Jacques was founded in 1218, only a few years before Thomas Aquinas was born.

Thomas’s Theology

Thomas Aquinas’s work was thoroughly influenced by the scholastic method of argumentation. He organized his teachings in the form of questions, followed by pro and con arguments. This approach inspired contemplation of the concepts and encouraged free thought which was a prominent value of the Order of Preachers. His work merged the ideas of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy, and his writings influenced the doctrines of Roman Catholicism for centuries. His main principles of philosophy were on natural law and natural reason. He believed the idea that good should be pursued and evil avoided. Thomas became sick and died at the age of forty nine, in 1275. Years after his death in 1323 he was canonized as a saint, and then later in 1567 he was named doctor of the church for his numerous profound theological contributions to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

Thomas Aquinas
Medium: painting
Artist: Petru Botezatu
Created and Installed: c. 1995
Location: Andrew Gerow Hodges Chapel, Samford University, 800 Lakeshore Drive, Birmingham Alabama, 35229

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Emma Thompson ‘27 was a student in UCS 102: Icons & Memorials in Samford University’s Howard College of Arts & Sciences in fall 2024.

Published January 3, 2024