Annual Mass Marks 800th Anniversary of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Birth, National Catholic Schools Week

The 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of The Catholic University of America, was celebrated by the University community at the annual Aquinas Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Jan. 28 mass was live-streamed on Youtube and broadcast on EWTN. 

The mass, held during National Catholic Schools Week, brought together the wider educational community, including St. Anthony Catholic School and the National Catholic Education Association president. Dominicans from a number of communities, including members of the University’s Campus Ministry, were among those who gathered to honor one of their order's most renowned figures.  

The principal celebrant and homilist for this year’s mass was alumnus Dominican Father Ambrose Little, B.A. 2007, Ph.L., 2014, who is now assistant professor of philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies. During the homily, he expressed his gratitude to the University for being where he “first learned how to study and to love the teachings of St Thomas.” 

Father Little shared during the homily how the Angelic Doctor’s witness to seeking the truth with an open heart and mind can give our educational journey purpose, even when it may feel fruitless.

Father Little said in one of his Catholic University classes a professor described writing a good paper is like “beating your head against a wall for weeks on end... I think he was right about that!” said Father Little, explaining that even St. Thomas saw his life’s works as like mere straw compared to the glory of God. 

So, Father Little asked, what’s the point? He then explained the reason we study and work is so that we may have a taste of the wisdom to prepare us for heaven. And that applies to all of us, not just the theologians. 

“St. Thomas does not limit the value of study only to the things that directly draw our minds to God in contemplation. He tells us that the study of anything true in this world is valuable because in so studying, we come to know God through His effects,” Father Little said. 

During closing remarks, University President Peter Kilpatrick shared how St. Thomas Aquinas can be an example to students, scholars, and all those who seek for a higher meaning for their lives. He said he finds particular inspiration from the saint’s own words.

“Let us pray….when our Lord asks us what we seek, we can answer with the Angelic Doctor, ‘I want nothing more than you, Lord,’” President Kilpatrick concluded.