Christian History Home > Issue 73 > Good Habits
Good Habits
Benedictines, Franciscans, and Dominicans all sought to live by high ideals, but only one order matched Thomas's love for both spirituality and intellect.
Steven Gertz | posted 1/01/2002 12:00AM
Authorities at Oxford University in the fourteenth century bore a grudge against Dominican friars. "We have learned from experience," grumbled the Congregation of Masters at Oxford, "that noble persons of this kingdom, gentlemen, and even those of common birth, desist from sending their sons … to the university … because they are very fearful that the friars will entice them into joining the Mendicant orders."
Thomas Aquinas's family had reason to fear the friars' influence. His wealthy parents sent their son off to school to begin a lucrative church career, and the next thing they knew, he had renounced riches and joined the Order of Preachers.
Why were men like Aquinas so attracted to the friars that they would risk their family's disapproval and rejection? And just what were a young man's choices when considering the religious life?
The classic choice
In Aquinas's day, thousands of abbeys throughout Europe subscribed to the Rule of Benedict, written in the sixth century. The Rule, not a ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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