Just after the skull tour of Santo Tomás de Aquinas in the United States, a new recently published study gives Catholics a clearer vision of how the face of the “Angelic Doctor” could have been.
From their skull, the experts rebuilt the image of the doctor of the Church, whose immense wisdom left a deep mark on theology and philosophy.
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The main author of the new study, the Brazilian 3D designer Cicero Moraes, who has rebuilt the faces of other saints such as Valentín – whose party is February 14 -, San Vicente de Paúl and San Martín de Porres, he told Daily Mail: “Initially we rebuild the skull from photographic and structural data.”
“In the end, we combine all this data to create the basic bust and also generate a colored version, based on the iconography of the saint,” Moraes explained.
In statements to the National Catholic Register on the process, Moraes said that “the most complicated was to project the missing regions of the skull. Fortunately, we have tools for this, based on measurements made in computerized tomographies of living people. Thanks to this, it was possible rebuild the entire skull volume. “
The face of the doctor of the Church is “humble”
The Register could also talk with Hagiologist Dr. José Luis Lira, who participated in the project and who told what the image has meant for him:
“We are glad for the innumerable people who admire the saint or their writings and who now receive their image of this branch of science. Anyway, it fills me with intense happiness to have their image with their books, their writings, in our libraries and in our oratories and churches. “
The image of the saint has generated a huge reaction in social networks, as well as in the Dominican Studies House in Washington DC where the skull relic in November was.
Dominican priest P. Dominic Legge, director of the Tomista Institute, reacted to the news of facial reconstruction, saying that he really moved him a lot to see the image of this beloved holy.
He said that he reacted with “gratitude and emotion because Aquino is someone whom I have not only studied for a long time and then taken as a teacher, but also someone whom I have come to know and love as a holy and as a spiritual master.”
“When I saw the reconstruction of his face, it was easier for me to imagine him as a real person with whom I can have a living relationship; as a patron saint and as a guide, ”he added.
“Aquino is a figure that has had an amazing impact on the history of Western civilization,” Fr. Legge continued, “and whose ideas are still very important for contemporary culture, not to mention contemporary philosophy and theology.”
“A very bright mind”
The Dominican priest P. Aquinas Guilbeau, prior of the Rectory and also university chaplain of the Catholic University of America, told the Register: “When people venerate the skull of Santo Tomás, they often comment on how small it is. I had the same reaction when the skull arrived at the Dominican Studies House in November. It seemed too small for someone who is normally described as big. ”
“Now, it could be that in general we are much larger than the medieval overweight, or that Santo Tomás was never the corpulent friar described by his legend,” joked the priest and added: “Anyway, the stories about the size about the size of Santo Tomás are probably exaggerated. ”
“I am glad to see that these computer recreations of Saint Thomas show that he was a handsome and noble man. And wouldn’t that have been appropriate? Santo Tomás himself would have been the first to appreciate how appropriate it was that a beautiful head contained a very bright mind. ”
Dominican priest Thomas Petri is a bit more skeptical than his brothers.
“Of course, I’m glad when Dr. Angelico, Santo Tomás de Aquino, receives attention from the secular press and from those who are not Catholics or are not as devoted to me as me,” the president of the House of Studies told the Register Dominicans
“I have always distrusted a bit of skull -based facial reconstructions. It seems that many assumptions should of him that Carlo Crivelli did.
The death of the philosopher
The scientists also participated in another study, analyzing how Santo Tomás de Aquino died, revealing that a “traumatic brain injury” can be the guilty of his death.
In 1274, Tomás de Aquino departed with good health to attend the second council of Lyon, invited by Pope Gregory X.
The Dominican priest never arrived and the historical stories point to a disease or something more sinister, even a murder.
However, when studying the skull, the cause of death can now be attributed to a specific type of hematoma, when blood accumulates between the brain and skull, the report points out.
“The authors postulate that Aquino may have suffered a traumatic brain injury and that their death at 48 was caused by a chronic subdural hematoma,” he says.
Three doctors: Gabriel Lebeau, Abdul-Rahman Alkiswani and Paul Camarata, and theologian Daniel Mauro published these findings in the magazine World Neurology.
The testimonies collected in the study claim that the saint hit his head when a tree fell when he headed to Naples (Italy). Aquino stopped to rest after the accident, first in Maenza and then in the Abbey of Fossanova. However, his situation did not improve and died weeks later.
“Most chronic subdural bruises (CSDH) are preceded by some type of mild or moderate cranioesephalic trauma,” says researchers.
“A critical reading of the stories of the last weeks of his life constitutes a solid argument in favor of the CSDH: with the classical medical history of a relatively lower cranial trauma, a period of lucidity and then a gradual deterioration as the hematoma It expands for several weeks. Aquino was not sick before the head injury, and the violent collision with the tree on the Latin road marked the beginning of its disappearance. ”
Power of Catholic Thought
Although two skulls have been attributed to the philosopher, one that is in Toulouse, France, and the other in privilege, Italy, that of France turned out to be the most conclusive and used for the study.
“We chose to approach the face of France, because we find more historical and structural data on that of Italy,” Moraes explained.
Father Legge, who celebrated the Mass in Toulouse in the presence of the skull, hopes that the new studies lead more people to know this great source of Catholic thought.
“As director of the Tomista Institute of the Dominican Studies House, my personal mission is to bring more people closer to Santo Tomás and the deep Christian wisdom found in their writings. If the study of their mortal remains can help people discover the beautiful life he lived and the beautiful ideas he has to teach us, it is a great treasure, without a doubt. ”
Although Father Dominic, as his chosen name suggests, reached his current vocation through Santo Domingo, learning about Dr. Angelico also had a deep impact on his life.
“I did not make myself Dominico for Santo Tomás de Aquino, but for Santo Domingo, who had the vocation of preaching the gospel to everyone. But when I started studying Santo Tomás de Aquino, I discovered a deep Christian wisdom that helped me understand the world in a new way and to understand how the Gospel can be proclaimed in a secular world and, especially, how to answer the questions of the questions of the questions of the questions of the secular students in a much more efficient and powerful way than any other thinker or ideology that is offered in contemporary university. ”
“The Tomista Institute,” Father Legge continued, “who is inspired by Santo Tomás and has his thoughts as a touch stone, has understood that there is a deep yearning to find answers to the most important questions that human beings can ask themselves: ‘ What is the meaning of my life? ‘ ‘What is the meaning of the world around us?’ ‘Is there God? Can I meet him? ‘ ‘How should I live to be happy?’ ”
The priest has seen firsthand the impact that Aquino’s thinking has had on young minds.
“Our mission, inspired by Santo Tomás de Aquino, is to bring the best Catholic academics to secular university campuses to talk to students who have questions like that. And we have been surprised and built to see how much has grown and how much the lives of many thousands of students who seek the truth have changed. ”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in the National Catholic Register
Alyssa Murphy
Alyssa Murphy is the Executive Editor of Digital Assets of the National Catholic Register. He began his career in radio waves in San Francisco and has worked on all facets of the media. Alyssa likes to write and cover stories that inspire and encourage.