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Contact:
Gregory Beabout, Ph.D.
Phone: 314.977.7189

January 21, 2005

On Friday, Jan. 28, the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Saint Louis University Philosophy Club will host the ninth annual "Summa-thon," a marathon reading of the Summa Theologiae.

St. Thomas Aquinas

The event begins at 8 a.m. and continues until 5 p.m. in Humanities Building, Room 142. It is open to the public.

St. Thomas Aquinas, revered as the "angelic doctor" of the Catholic Church (also dubbed the "dumb ox" by his 13th century classmates for his great size and silence in the classroom) has long been considered the most important thinker of the medieval period and one of the greatest philosophers of all time. His philosophy has been the basis of Catholic theology and education for much of the seven centuries since his death.

The Summa Theologiae, his most significant work, is written in question-and-answer format and addresses almost all of the great philosophical questions: the meaning of life, the existence and nature of God, what happens after death, how to find happiness, and more.

The 200 participants in the "Summa-thon," largely comprised of Saint Louis University students, faculty and staff from various graduate and undergraduate disciplines, will each read a single question and answer.