He became a religious against his mother’s wishes
Thomas Aquinas was born of a noble family and as a youth entered the Dominicans against the wishes of his mother and brothers. He was sent to Paris, but on the way abducted by his brothers to the castle of St John. There the pure young man drove away with a firebrand the woman whom his brothers had sent to seduce him.
His brothers abducted him and sent a woman to seduce him
At Paris he studied so deeply that when barely twenty-five, he publicly interpreted the philosophers and theologians with very great acclaim.
He always prayed before beginning to read or write
He always prayed before beginning to read or write, and once when he heard Christ crucified say, “Thomas, you have written well of me; what reward will you have?, he lovingly answered, “None other, Lord, than you yourself.”
Patron of all Catholic schools
He was well-read in every branch of learning. Urban IV summoned him to Rome and commanded him to compose the office for the feast of Corpus Christi, and Blessed Gregory X sent him to the Council of Lyons.
On the way Thomas fell sick at the monastery of Fossa Nuova, where he wrote a commentary on the Canticle of Canticles in spite of his sufferings. There he died at fifty on the Nones of March 1274. Leo XIII made him patron of all Catholic schools.
– From: An Approved English Translation of the Breviarium Romanum, Burns & Oates, London, 1964