On Prayer and The Contemplative Life | Page 7

ran so
swiftly in the race, who fought so manfully in the strife, who could so
well say with the Apostle: 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith; as for the rest there is laid up for me a
crown of justice'; and such indeed had he truly won by his study of
inspired doctrine."[19]
O Sancte Thoma! Scholarum Patrone, Fidem invictam, Charitatem
fervidam, Vitam castissimam, Scientiam veram, A Deo nobis obtine.
Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
* * * * *
No one who is at all familiar with the writings of S. Thomas can be
surprised to find many extracts from S. Augustine in the following
pages. For Augustine and Thomas are one. Their respective styles are
different, but their thoughts and teachings are the same on the great

essential points of theological teaching. Cardinal Aguirre has well said:
"Owing to the clearness and acuteness of his angelic mind S. Thomas
sheds a flood of light on many most obscure matters, and brings out
very clearly even the most profound teachings contained in the works
of the Fathers, especially in those of S. Augustine. I speak simply from
my own experience, but I am certain that many another has felt the
same: in controverted matters, if we look merely at the text of S.
Augustine, we are brought face to face with a flood of difficulties
which seem well-nigh insoluble; but the difficulty disappears and the
solution becomes clear the moment we set to work to find out what was
S. Thomas's teaching on the question; for he is the surest and the easiest
interpreter of S. Augustine."[20]
And indeed Augustine is a deep well! "Man shall come to a deep
heart!" he was fond of saying, and those words of the Psalmist might
stand for a motto at the head of his works. Traditionary art represents
him with his heart in his hand, and the sentiment is true, for
"great-hearted" is the epithet which best suits him, and those who use
these pages for meditation or spiritual reading will find that whereas S.
Thomas teaches how we ought to pray, S. Augustine makes us pray;
not in vain had he studied and taught rhetoric for so many years!
This likeness between the two great Saints forms the theme of one of
the Responsories for the Office for S. Thomas in the Dominican
Breviary. It is based on a famous vision. "There appeared to me as I
watched in prayer," said Brother Albert of Brescia in his deposition,
"two revered personages clothed in wondrous splendour. One of them
wore a mitre on his head, the other was clad in the habit of the Friars
Preachers. And this latter bore on his head a golden crown; round his
neck he wore two rings, one of silver, the other of gold; and on his
breast he had an immense precious stone, which filled the church with
light. His cloak, too, was sewn with precious stones, and his tunic and
his hood were of snowy white. And the one who wore the mitre said to
me: 'Brother Albert, why art thou thus filled with wonder? Thy prayers
are heard; for--listen: I am Augustine, the Doctor of the Church, and I
am sent to thee to tell thee of the doctrine and of the glory of Brother
Thomas of Aquin who is here with me. For he is my son; he in all

things has followed my doctrine and that of the Apostles, and by his
teaching he has illumined the Church of God. This is signified by the
precious stones which you see, and especially by the one he carries on
his breast, for it signifies the upright intention which he ever had in
view in his defence of the faith and which he showed in his words.
These precious stones, then, and especially that great one, signify the
many books and works that he wrote, and they show that he is equal to
me in glory save only that in the aureola of Virginity he surpasseth
me.'"[21]
Cardinal Cajetan, from whose famous Commentary on the Summa we
have occasionally quoted, is unfortunately too little known. Born in
1469, and dying in 1534, he was the contemporary of Luther and the
Reformers, and, as was to be expected, their most formidable opponent.
A great student, a man of prayer as well as a man of action, his was the
striking figure of the early portion of the sixteenth century. But his was
a bold and independent mind, and he was not afraid to advance views
which, though now commonly accepted, brought his works into a
certain disfavour. This is especially to be regretted in the case of his
Commentaries on the Bible. A thorough