You have probably heard of St. Thomas Aquinas.
However, you may not have heard about his kidnapping ordeal…a plot that was orchestrated by his own family!
We’re going to need some backstory to get to the bottom of this…
St. Thomas Aquinas was born to a noble family in Aquino, Italy. The youngest of eight children, St. Thomas was expected to enter religious life.
This expectation shaped Thomas’s childhood. He received a thorough and rigorous education. He grew to be a devoted man and felt the call to religious life personally, not merely out of family duty.
However, Thomas’s vocational call differed from his family’s expectations that he become a Benedictine.
Thomas desired to join not the Benedictines but the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans. The Dominicans, though sharing in a deep love of theology and an appreciation for teaching, differed from the Benedictines in several notable ways.
Primarily, at least for Thomas’s family, the Dominicans were a very young order. Founded in 1212, 13 years before Thomas’s birth, the Dominicans only received papal approval in 1216. Because of this, and their commitment to a vow of poverty, the Dominicans had very little power in their region.
When Thomas expressed his desire to become a Dominican, he met with great resistance from his family—so great, in fact, that his father had Thomas kidnapped by his older brothers and locked in their family tower!
Tradition says that, hoping to break some of his religious fervor and will, Thomas’s brothers attempted to tempt him by sending a prostitute into the tower where he was being kept. They hoped that if he fell into sin, he would abandon the commitment he had to entering this uncertain religious order.
But like his desire to become a Dominican, Thomas’s commitment to virtue was not a fleeting thing—it was a firm resolution based on a burning love.
Thomas, resolved in his faith and his vocation, remained sure in his vow of chastity. As included in the official records for his canonization, Thomas drove the prostitute away wielding a burning log—with which he inscribed a cross onto the wall—and fell into a mystical ecstasy.
Realizing her son’s decision to become a Dominican was a resolute one, his mother arranged for a window to be left open so that Thomas could escape. Climbing out of his window, Thomas left the comfort of his family’s money and power and began his life as a Dominican.
Even though we may not be destined to be great preachers or theologians, we are still called to the same extraordinary holiness as St. Thomas. However, we may need a little assistance in that call…
Yes, we certainly need prayer, and coffee helps too! Start your mornings off with a little extra help in the form of a caffeine boost and some saintly intercession. Our St. Thomas Aquinas Honey Blend Coffee is a delightful tribute to the Angelic Doctor himself, with a lemongrass honey flavor profile and beautiful bag imagery inspired by the Doctor of the Church. Order today on his feast day from The Catholic Company!