Comments on: Habeas Corpus

By: Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:27:42 +0000

Thanks all for the comments. Tom, I had never heard about Dante’s suspicion. It must have been current in his day. Who knows? There were all kinds of intrigues going on at the time. The Greek emperor, Michael Paleologus, who united with Rome at the council, ended up excommunicated in 1281 by Pope Martin IV. The history between Latins and Greeks at this time is so complex. What were Michaels’ motives in asking for reunification? Help from the West against the Turks, obviously was one, and that’s perfectly understandable. Did the deposed Latin emperor undermine him after the reunion? The fourth Crusade (1204) and the sack of Constantinople by leaderless “crusaders” was still a festering wound with the Greeks, so the reunion went nowhere. (And there certainly is the Latin side to the betrayal of the Greeks in the fourth crusade.) Michael’s son, Adronicus, renounced the union. Interesting, too, is that both orders, Dominican and Franciscan, were officially approved, if I’m not mistaken, at Second Lyons.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:23:32 +0000

Dante thinks that Saint Thomas Aquinas may have been the victim of foul play. In his Divine Comedy (Purgatory, canto XX, lines 67-69), he writes (text and note from the edition in the Harvard Classics):

To Italy came Charles; and for amends,
Young Conradine, an innocent victim, slew;
And sent the angelic teacher back to Heaven,
Still for amends.

“The angelic teacher.” Thomas Aquinas. He was reported to have been poisoned by a physician, who wished to ingratiate himself with Charles of Anjou. “In the year 1323, at the end of July, by the said Pope John and by his cardinals, was canonized at Avignon, Thomas Aquinas, of the order of Saint Dominic, a master in divinity and philosophy. A man most excellent in all science, and who expounded the sense of Scripture better than anyone since the time of Augustin. He lived in the time of Charles I, King of Sicily; and going to the council at Lyons, it is said that he was killed by a physician of the said king, who put poison for him into some sweetmeats, thinking to ingratiate himself with King Charles, because he was of the lineage of the Lords of Aquino, who had rebelled against the king, and doubting lest he should be made cardinal; whence the Church of God received great damage. He died at the abbey of Fossanova, in Campagna.” G. Villani, lib. ix.

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:05:47 +0000

If only the Church would return to the sound theological principles of St. Thomas than it would flourish and thrive. I guess someone actually testified that God told St. Thomas “you have written well of me”, which to me should mean that his theology is a safe bet for all time. Besides, he’s a Saint after all. He wouldn’t become one if there wasn’t something exceptional about him.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:16:29 +0000

Perhaps we should consider it providential that the Little Flower broke the Angelic Doctor’s record, perhaps Almighty God whilst recognizing the achievements of the dumb ox, prefers we take the little way instead