Happy Feast of St. Thomas

Today, March 7, is the traditional date of the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas. It is the date of his death in 1274 at the abbey of Fossanova in Italy, where he was taken after becoming ill en route to the second Council of Lyons. The feast is still observed on March 7 in the so-called Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite, i.e., the Mass according to the 1962 Missal.

January 28, the date of the transfer of Aquinas’s relics to the Dominican church in Toulouse in 1369, is the day on which his feast is observed in the so-called Ordinary Form of the Roman rite, i.e., the Mass according to the 1969 Missal.

Happy Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, Again

On January 28 I wished our readers a happy feast day as it was Aquinas’s liturgical feast according to the calendar of Paul VI. But, as I also noted in that post, March 7 is Aquinas’s feast day on the old calendar. Since both calendars are in force in the Roman Rite I see no reason why we cannot celebrate Aquinas’s liturgical feast twice.

In the past Aquinas’s feast was observed on March 7, the day on which he died in 1274 at the abbey of Fossanova, where he had stopped after taking ill on his way with Reginald of Piperno to the second Council of Lyons.

It should be mentioned that January 28 is also a significant date. Aquinas’s relics were translated to the Dominican church in Toulouse on that date in 1369.