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A Renaissance of Aquinas at 800

October 4, 2024

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If you were born in 1224, the odds are not in your favor that you’ll have a blow-out 800th birthday celebration. But Thomas Aquinas is the exception to that rule. A recent conference at the University of Notre Dame, “Aquinas at 800: Ad Multos Annos,” brought 580 registered participants from twenty countries to hear more than 150 papers on the work of the great Dominican St. Thomas Aquinas. This conference was a fitting recognition of the Angelic doctor both in quantity of participants involved and the quality of papers presented. 

Some of the greatest scholars of Aquinas in the world participated. To open the conference, Fr. Wojciech Giertych, Theologian of the Papal Household, delivered remarks on “The Significance of Aquinas Today.” Four internationally renowned speakers gave plenary addresses: Fr. Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP, Dean of Philosophy at the Angelicum; Dr. Rudi te Velde of the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology in Utrecht; Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, the Angelicum’s Rector Magnificus (a title well deserved); and Dr. Jean Porter of the University of Notre Dame. After her plenary address, “The Law of Love: Aquinas and the Renewal of Moral Theology,” her former student and current Notre Dame colleague William Matison made a surprise announcement. He told the assembly that a festschrift is forthcoming to honor Porter’s outstanding scholarship and her many years of mentoring young scholars of Aquinas. It was a moving moment. 

Some of Porter’s many students participated in the fifty-three conference sessions, which reflected the breadth found in the thought of Thomas himself. Papers were given on a wide variety of topics, including economics, intellectual virtue, metaphysics, politics, psychology, anthropology, Christology, applied ethics, disability, the Bible, and Thomas’ understanding of the Trinity. Many of the excellent conference papers will be published in Aquinas at 800: Commemorative Studies 1225–2025 (CUA Press) or in future issues of The Thomist, Nova et Vetera, The European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas, and the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly.

Aquinas exhibited in his person two distinct kinds of inspired excellence. As Cardinal Bessarion (d. 1472) once said, “Thomas is among all the saints the most learned, and among all the learned the most saintly.” Since Thomas himself combined intellectual excellence and holiness of life, Mass was offered for conference participants by Cardinal Gerhard Müller, who also gave a public lecture on “The Mission of Theology Today.” A relic of St. Thomas Aquinas was available for veneration in Notre Dame’s basilica throughout the conference. As part of the celebration, the Hillbilly Thomists offered a performance.

Therese Scarpelli Cory, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame, was one of the main organizers of the massive event. She said, 

I was blown away by the outpouring of enthusiasm for this anniversary conference, both from scholars and from the broader Catholic community around the globe. We initially planned for a considerably smaller conference, and then received an unexpectedly large volume of excellent paper submissions, which led us to expand the conference until we maxed out the available space for presentations. And then registrations far outpaced our expectations as well (580 registrants), a significant percentage of which were Notre Dame students. Presenters came from as far away as Chile, Peru, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. We were delighted that so many younger scholars and students participated, who are the future for continuing to unpack the riches that Aquinas has to offer for philosophy, theology, political science, economics—not just for academic study, but for living a fully human life. The community response was also remarkable; one attendee, a mother of two young children, told me that she drove all the way from Toronto just for the conference, to deepen her theological knowledge. The atmosphere was so joyful and energetic. To me, these three days, packed with so many deep and inspiring ideas and conversations, made clear that Aquinas is alive and well on his 800th birthday! 

The youth and vitality of so many participants at this conference point to a rebirth of interest in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Paper presenter Randal B. Smith noted, “A conference on Thomas Aquinas with over 500 participants? It’s amazing. This wouldn’t have happened twenty years ago. We are clearly seeing a tremendous renaissance in interest in the work of Aquinas, and it’s wonderful to see.”