"The Aesthetics of Saint Thomas Aquinas"

Integrity means the presence in a structured sum total of all the parts which coincide in defining it as that which is. It is revealed here that it is a quality associated with something that is complete and uncorrupted. Beauty is the similar to goodness. Goodness represents desirability of oneself while beauty is what the people see. Therefore beauty is that which is enviable as perceived by senses. Art in itself is extensive if it is sufficient to the ideas of its author. Integritas is seen in his life in the wholeness of his philosophies. His desirability to know God is seen in his moral philosophy. St. Thomas’ life and journey to truth and wisdom is a thing of beauty in its own way. His faith in God is considered to be incorruptible because he resisted all the possible temptations he had encountered during his journey to priesthood. He was once tempted by his family to forget becoming a Dominican and accepting its desire for him to be a Benedictine. They let a female prostitute into the castle where he was staying for fasting and prayer, instead of giving in to the nature of man’s innate sensual faculty; he resisted and dragged the woman out of the castle. Not only does this resistance prove his determination to overcome temptations, but also his strong faith in God. Aquinas also discuses about the appropriateness of matter to form defined as consonantia.

3. Mutual Proportionality - Consonantia

Consonantia shows us the relationship between things in size, quantity or degree; ratio; symmetry, balance; comparative part or share in any object. According to the Doctor Emeritus, there must be harmony and agreement in all things. “For beautiful things are those which pleases when seen (pulchara enim dicuntur quae plasen). Hence beauty consists in due proportion; for the senses delight in things duly proportioned, as in what is after their own kind because even sense is a sort of reason just as in every cognitive faculty. Now since knowledge is by assimilation and similarity relates to form, beauty properly belongs to the nature of the formal cause.” The connections of events in his life were seen in his house arrest in Roccasecca where he spent his days as a prisoner. After which he was able to enter Dominican order through the help of divine intervention. There he was able to enrich his moral philosophies and theodicy through personal reflections toward goodness and piousness. The flow of his thoughts are constant and in order. His life is centered in God and basically, his philosophy is based on God himself and the teachings of the bible. A psychological type of proportion is shown here because we see the aptness of a thing for being experienced by a subject, the relation between the knower and known. Proportion is the sufficiency of a potentiality to its coordinating principles. Through the use of this, according to St. Thomas, the proper act is produced in its proper matter. He glorified the clarity of Christ’s transfigured body and His holy teachings that were manifested in his works.

4. Clearness of Beauty – Claritas

Claritas refers to the expressive capacity of organisms or the radioactivity of the form of things. “The beautiful for St. Thomas is the same good, and they differ in aspect only. For since God is what all seek, the notion of good is that which calms desire; while the notion of the beautiful is that which calms the desire by being seen or known” It is clear that beauty is also that which is desirable to the senses. The gradual events of his life lead to the additional transparency of his philosophy. Every single episode leads to the lucidity of his moral and spiritual ideology. In the famous event where he was lured by a prostitute and used a burning torch to drive her away, the weakness of his faith receded during his prayer of perpetual chastity to be able to overcome temptations. With that we can see that he uses prayers as a means to overcome his own fear and anxiety and proved that he really is a man of perfect stable faith through the appearance of two angels that told him how God understood his plea and that He was guiding him all the time. Clearness of his conscience and love for what is right showed us how St. Thomas Aquinas’ heart was free of any evil and malicious blemish.

5. Conclusion

It is obvious in his life the appearance of these three aspects of beauty. At the same time he was able to expound how they are related to his moral and theological philosophy. Truly this Prince and Master of all Scholastic Doctors admire the meaning of beauty and his philosophies is the excellent enlightenment that leads to living a godly and righteous way. As Pope Pius X declared, “Those who depart from the teaching of St. Thomas seem to effect ultimately their withdrawal from the church. One may not desert Aquinas, especially in philosophy and theology, without great harm, following him is the safest ways to the knowledge of divine things.”

BIBLIOGARAPHY:

Primary Source:

St. Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica

Secondary Source:

Kretzmann, Norman, Stump, Eleonore eds. Cambridge Companion to Aquinas. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993