Contemplating St. Thomas at Spring All-College Seminars

In keeping with one of Thomas Aquinas College’s academic traditions, students from all four classes took part in the year’s second All-College Seminar this past Friday, considering selections from the works of St. Thomas in both California and New England.

New England

On the Northfield, Massachusetts, campus, students were organized into new, all-class sections to discuss the chapters on “Why Christ Willed to Die” from Aquinas’s Compendium of Theology. For freshmen and sophomores, this reading was an introduction to St. Thomas’s writings, whereas the upperclassmen were by this time quite familiar with the works of the Angelic Doctor.

The seminars began with explorations of perfect virtue, questioning why Christ willed to die such an ignoble death, when any small suffering would have sufficed to redeem mankind through the infinite dignity of His nature. The suitability of the Cross as the most perfect death was contemplated and resolved, after which students and tutors further discussed the Cross’s symbolism, Christ’s twofold nature, and the divisibility of the Person of Christ.

At the conclusion of the seminars, students and faculty made their way to St. Frassati Student Center for homemade pizza and continued conversations about their seminar discussions. “I’m so glad to have participated in All-College Seminar with my friends across all the classes at TAC,” remarked Sebastiano Egan (NE’27). “It’s always a treat to see the academic side of friends in different grades.” Freshman Ryan Veasman (NE’29) agreed wholeheartedly. “It was a great chance to learn from my betters,” he said, “and it was also well-conducted so that it was easy for everyone to follow and to participate.”

California

Three hours later, students on the West Coast wrestled with St. Thomas Aquinas’s thorough commentary on the Beatitudes, specifically according to the account given in St. Matthew’s Gospel. St. Thomas meticulously explores each beatitude, the gifts of the Holy Spirit they correspond to, and the worldly vices that they conquer. In the seminars, students discussed Aquinas’s ordering and divisions of the Beatitudes and how each one plays an essential role in our attainment of true human happiness: the Beatific Vision.

After an hour-and-a-half of Thomistic exegesis, students and tutors convened in St. Joseph Commons for some post-seminar socialization. The conversations continued well into the night as friends shared and compared their sections’ insights, dynamics, and discoveries over pizza and soft drinks. “This text inspired lots of wonder,” commented Leo Vella (CA’27), “and encouraged a much deeper reading into Scripture.”

Added fellow upperclassman Chiara Zino (CA’26): “When you’re in section with people from different classes, you get to see how people work in a dynamic they’re not used to, how they approach a reading they’re not particularly familiar with. It’s always cool to see how the sections collaborate as a whole, especially between the upperclassmen and the underclassmen. The freshmen and sophomores get a taste of what class will be like later on in their career; and the juniors and seniors are reminded how the underclassmen think, in ways that maybe we’ve forgotten how to think in our time here.”

More All-College Seminar photos from New England …

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… and California!