SAINT THOMAS of VILLANOVA
Bishop of Valencia
(1488-1555)
Saint Thomas was from Castile in Spain and received his surname from the town where he was raised. He received a superior education at the University of Alcala and became a popular professor of philosophy there.
After joining the Augustinian friars at Salamanca, Thomas was ordained and resumed his teaching–despite a continuing absentmindedness and poor memory. He became prior and then provincial of the friars, sending the first Augustinians to the New World. He was nominated by the emperor to the archbishopric of Granada, but refused. When the see again became vacant he was pressured to accept. The money his cathedral chapter gave him to furnish his house was given to a hospital instead. His explanation to them was that “our Lord will be better served by your money being spent on the poor in the hospital. What does a poor friar like myself want with furniture?”
He wore the same habit that he had received in the novitiate, mending it himself. The canons and domestics were ashamed of him, but they could not convince him to change. Several hundred poor came to Thomas’s door each morning and received a meal, wine, and money. When criticized because he was at times being taken advantage of, he replied, “If there are people who refuse to work, that is for the governor and the police to deal with. My duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door.” He took in orphans and paid his servants for every deserted child they brought to him. He encouraged the wealthy to imitate his example and be richer in mercy and charity than they were in earthly possessions.
Criticized because he refused to be harsh or swift in correcting sinners, Thomas said, “Let him (the complainer) inquire whether St. Augustine and St .John Chrysostom used anathemas and excommunication to stop the drunkenness and blasphemy which were so common among the people under their care.”
As he lay dying, Thomas commanded that all the money he possessed be distributed to the poor. His material goods were to be given to the rector of his college. Mass was being celebrated in his presence when after Communion he breathed his last, reciting the words: “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
In his lifetime Thomas of Villanova was already called “the almsgiver” and “the father of the poor.” He was canonized in 1658.
Reflection
The absent-minded professor is a stock comic figure. Thomas of Villanova earned even more derisive laughs with his determined shabbiness and his willingness to let the poor who flocked to his door take advantage of him. He embarrassed his peers, but Jesus was enormously pleased with him. We are often tempted to tend our image in others’ eyes without paying sufficient attention to how we look to Christ. Thomas still urges us to rethink our priorities.Another take:
Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Biographical selection:
In the early 16th century, Germany and Spain presented a curious contrast: The first was divided, scandalized, and perverted by an apostate Augustinian monk: Luther. The latter was elevated and sanctified by another Augustinian monk, St. Thomas of Villanova. St. Thomas was born on September 18, 1488 at Fuentellana, Spain, the son of a noble but impoverished family. His parents were extremely virtuous and transmitted to him their love for the poor. His mother had received the gift of miracles. The boy was the worthy fruit of such saintly parents. After a virtuous childhood in Villanova, he graduated with high honors from the University of Alcalá. At age 28, he joined the St. Augustine friars at Salamanca and took his vows on November 25, 1517, the same year of Luther’s apostasy. At Salamanca he taught Scholastic Theology, and soon began to preach in pulpits throughout Spain. He dedicated his life to the confessionary and to the pulpit. His sermons were so persuasive that he was named the court preacher of Emperor Charles V and one of his councilors of state. It is said that Charles V never denied anything to St. Thomas because – as the Emperor affirmed – he had the gift to move hearts. He was offered the See of Granada, but refused the position. Years later, in 1544, he was obliged under obedience to accept the Archbishopric of Valencia. At that time, the Kingdom of Valencia was suffering from a severe drought. When it was announced that St. Thomas had been chosen the new Archbishop, rain poured abundantly, a sign of the days of grace and redemption to come. In fact, this rain summarizes well the tenure of St. Thomas of Villanova, who became known as “Almsgiver” and “Father of the Poor” for his charity, and “model of Bishops” for his administration and laws. He made a gradual and steady reform of the Clergy, and then extended it to all the faithful. He continued his mortified life, always seeing in the poor his most precious treasure. He was munificent with all but very parsimonious with himself to the point that he wore the same habit that he had received in the novitiate. Once he was accused of avarice by a tailor who received an old coat for him to mend. Notwithstanding, some time later St. Stephen gave 150 silver coins as dowry for the tailor’s daughters. Several hundred poor came to St. Thomas’ door each morning and were given meals, wine and money. His charity was often accompanied by miracles of healing the sick, the multiplication of food and extraordinary conversions. His ecstasies were so common that at times he described them in his sermons on the Transfiguration. After 11 years of his episcopate, St. Thomas fell gravely ill and died September 8, 1555, the day of the Nativity of Our Lady. In his death agony, he gave the bed in which he was laying to a poor man. It was the last thing he had. St. Thomas of Villanova left a great number of sermons and theological writings; his grandiose style is reminiscent of St. Bernard. Comments of Prof. Plinio: This is not a very easy selection to comment on since it primarily reports facts about St. Thomas of Villanova that are characteristic of many saints. They are admirable and praiseworthy, but a little too generic and repeat what we hear about others. I limit myself, therefore, to comment on some more distinctive points here and there for our meditation.
First, it is remarkable fact that Charles V chose St. Thomas of Villanova as a preacher and councilor. He was a person who in many ways directed the conscience of the Emperor. You see the finger of Divine Providence directing this great statesman. Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman German Empire, a man over whose domains the sun never set, was an extraordinarily important man. He continued the vocation of the Hapsburgs of the House of Austria. There is a text by Mary de Agreda (who wrote the 'City of God') describing the designs of Providence for the House of Austria and all the graces God gave the Hapsburgs to fulfill them. It is very beautiful to see how Divine Providence assisted the realization of those designs by sending St. Thomas of Villanova to be the court preacher and councilor to Charles V. Charles V, we must add with sadness, did not entirely correspond to those plans of God. He had a saint as a councilor, but he was a man whose softness and spirit of tolerance permitted Protestantism to expand in his lands. It is true that he had many different enemies to fight. One of them was the league formed by Muslim Turkey and Catholic France, which also became indirectly responsible for the expansion of Protestantism. But Charles V had long periods of peace when he could have opposed the expansion of Protestantism. His famous temporizations have made him the subject of strong, objective critiques by Church historians. But he ended his life well. He left aside all his possessions and goods and retired to a monastery as a penitent. He spent his last years there living a life that edified all Christendom. Did the good counsels of St. Thomas of Villanova finally move his heart? He used to say that St. Thomas had the gift of moving hearts. Did St. Thomas also bend his own heart of iron? It is a point to consider.
I would answer that long experience of life has shown me that nothing is harder to change than the heart of a soft man and make him an energetic man. It is harder to make a soft man energetic than to make an energetic man become soft. I think that a saint who could have made Louis XVI lose his softness would have performed a supernatural exploit greater than one who would convince Louis XIV to refrain from using force. So, the change of Charles V, who went to a monastery to make penance, may have been due to the good counsel of St. Thomas of Villanova. Second, it is interesting to see that St. Thomas had so many ecstasies that he used to speak about them in his sermons. It is admirable to see how he reported, sincerely and nobly, without vanity, the manifestations of grace in his soul from the pulpit. Only a truly superior soul can do this because he understands that grace does not rely on his personal merit but only on the largesse of God. This attitude is the opposite of a certain Calvinist way of understanding humility that has infiltrated many Catholic milieus. According to it, an individual is proud if he ever praises himself or lets someone else know of his qualities or gifts, because humility would always demand that he hide such things. This is not always true. It is a simplified picture. I know, of course, that it can be dangerous to tell a person he can praise his own qualities. Often it happens that the person does not have an objective view of himself, but exaggerates his qualities and becomes proud. I know this, and I agree that we must be careful about encouraging this kind of pride. But this is different from obliging everyone to hide his qualities in the name of humility. You can see in the life of St. Thomas of Villanova how he made a beautiful and natural manifestation of the graces he received and the marvelous things God did in his soul. He could talk about them even in a sermon because he was detached from them and was glorifying God alone, and not himself. In the richness of the Catholic Church, we can find the models for both the rule, which is to be silent about one’s qualities, and also for the exception, which is to praise one’s own graces and qualities in order to honor God. This is another beautiful facet of the life of St. Thomas of Villanova. |
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