St. Thomas of Villanova

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Educator, philanthropist, born at Fuentellana,Spain, 1488; died atValencia, 8 September, 1555. Son of Aloazo Tomas Garcia and Lucia Martínez Castellanos, thesaint was brought up in the practices of religion and charity. Every Friday hisfather was wont to give inalms all the meal he earned at the mill, besides his usual daily dole of bread. On great feast-days he added wood, wine, and money; while to poor farmers he loaned money and seed. On the death of her husband, Lucia continued the usualalms, and supplied indigent maidens in the neighbourhood with clothing and money. When sixteen years old, Thomas entered theUniversity of Alcalá, where, after proceedingmaster of arts and licentiate intheology, he filled the chair (1514) of arts,logic, andphilosophy. Among his auditors were the famed scholars Ferdinand de Encina andDominic Soto. With Alcalá, however, ended hisuniversity associations, he having declined the chair of natural philosophy at Salamanca, where he joined the Augustinians in 1516, hisvows following a year later, and hisordination topriesthood the year after; his firstMass was celebrated atChristmas, 1518. At Salamanca Convent Thomas was given the class ofscholastic theology because of his attachment for books, chiefly the Lombard andSt. Thomas, and his exemplary life. Preaching in thepulpits ofSpain was soon added to hisduties, among other places atValencia, the field of his later trials, and Valladolid, seat of the imperial Court and residence of theEmperor Charles V when on his visits to the Low Countries. In this last-named city St. Thomas was named by the emperor his court preacher, and one of his councillors of state. Rarely, however, did thesaint pay visits ofceremony to the then master ofEurope, though his written correspondence with Charles, who held his opinions in high esteem, was voluminous. Towards the close of his life, while atValencia, he had all the emperor's letters destroyed; his own letters to the emperor, however, are now stored at Simancas.

Apart from these burdens Thomas held many offices of trust in his order, e.g. asconvent prior in various cities, among others at Valladolid in 1544, the very year he was called to the See of Valencia. Moreover, he was twice provincial-prior, first ofAndalusia and Castile in 1527, then six years later ofCastile alone, whence the first mission band of his brethren was sent across the Atlantic in 1533 to establish houses of their order in Mexico. On 5 Aug., 1544, he received hisnomination to the Archbishopric of Valencia, a post that for well-nigh a hundred years had witnessed nobishop in residence, an appointment that was confirmed byPaul III. Previously St. Thomas had declined theSee of Granada, offered him by the emperor, while that of Valencia he accepted only through obedience to his superiors. He wasconsecrated in the church of his order at Valladolid by Juan, Cardinal Tavera de Pardo,Archbishop of Toledo. On his entrance to hissee on 1 Jan., 1545, of which he was thirty-secondbishop and eightharchbishop, St. Thomas opened his career as legislator and philanthropist, which won for him the titles of "Almsgiver", "Father of the Poor", and "Model of Bishops", given him at hisbeatification in 1618 byPaul V. During his eleven years of episcopal rule his most noteworthy deeds were as follows: a visitation of hisdiocese, opened a few weeks after entrance into hissee. Among other amendments he inhibited his visitators from accepting any gifts whatever. He then held a synod, the first at Valencia for many years, whereby he sought to do away with a number of abuses, as bloodshed,divorce,concubinage, and many excessive privileges or unreasonable exemptions; he abolished the undergroundprisons; rebuilt the generalhospital at Valencia which had just been destroyed by fire; founded two colleges, one for youngecclesiastics, the other for poor students; laboured for the conversion of thenuevos Cristianos, whose profession ofChristianity was largely mere outward show; established a creche near his palace for foundlings and the offspring of indigentparents; had Mass said at early hours for the working-classes; and in brief, bystatutes, by preaching, and by example, strove to reform themorals of churchman andlayman.

Towards the poor especially his heart was ever alive with pity; to them his palace gate was always open; daily he had a repast for every poorperson that applied for help, as many even as four to five hundred thus getting their meals at his hands. In every district of the city he had almoners appointed with orders especially to search out the respectablepersons who shrank from askingalms; these he had supplied with money, food, clothing, while as to indigent workmen, poor farmers, and mechanics, he replenished their stock and brought them tools, thus putting them in the way of making a living. His whole life as replete with acts of practical kindness. He spent his spare time chiefly inprayer and study; his table was one of simple fare, with no luxuries. His dress was inexpensive; he mended with his own hands whatever needed repairs. Numberless are the instances ofSt. Thomas'supernatural gifts, of his power of healing the sick, of multiplication of food, of redressing grievances, of hisecstasies, of his conversions of sinners. He was taken ill in August, 1555, of angina pectoris, of which he died at the age of 67, at the termination of Mass in his bedroom. His last words were the versicles: "In manus tuas, Domine", etc.; his remains were entombed at theconvent Church of Our Lady of Help of his order outside the city walls, whence later they were brought to thecathedral. The saint was of well-knit frame, of medium height, with dark complexion, brilliant eyes, ruddy cheeks, and Roman nose. He wasbeatified byPaul V (7 Oct., 1618), who set hisfeast-day for 18 Sept., andcanonized byAlexander VII on 1 Nov., 1658.

Various reasons are given to account for St. Thomas' non-appearance at theCouncil of Trent, among them that he was ill, unable to stand the fatigue of travel; that his people would not brook his absence; and that the emperor was unable to do without his aid at home. The writings of St. Thomas, mainly sermons, are replete with practical norms of mystictheology. Some twenty editions have been published, the best and most complete being probably that ofManila, 1882-1884, in 5 tomes.

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