Thomas Aquinas on Angels

[struggle4progress]

I must admit I have never taken very much interest in the works on Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), as my wanderings into his texts tend to convince me that he had too much spare time but perhaps too few really interesting questions

The substance of the angels
... There must be some incorporeal creatures ... One glance is enough to show that there cannot be one matter of spiritual and of corporeal things ... It is reasonable to conclude that the immaterial substances as it were incomparably exceed material substances as to multitude ... It is impossible for two angels to be of one species ... It must necessarily be maintained that the angels are incorruptible of their own nature ...

If you find this discussion fascinating, there is more available:

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1051.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1052.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1053.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1054.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1055.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1056.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1057.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1058.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1059.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1060.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1061.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1062.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1063.htm

But since ángelos merely signifies a messenger, perhaps the studies of Aquinas might best be described by a parable:

Imagine that a messenger arrives in town with an urgent message from the King. Everyone crowds about, asking questions. Where was the messenger born? Is he a foreigner? What was his father's name? Who are his brothers and sisters? Who cuts his hair and where does he get shaved? Is that how everyone dresses in Court? How much do such clothes cost? Are they linen or silk? What does the King pay him? They carry him off to a local tavern for lunch to ask more. Is the bread and cheese here as good as the food at Court? At what time does he sup there? Do the messengers eat with the King? And so until late at night, they ask their questions. Does he like cream ands sugar in his coffee? What sort of wine do the King's messengers prefer? The next day, it is the same, and also the day after that. Finally a day comes, when everyone has asked all the questions they could imagine, so they all go back to their trades, leaving the King's messenger alone, with his message undelivered since no one thought to ask of that

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Since Aquinas lived during the 13th century,

why was he talking about coffee, which was unknown as a beverage until the 15th century? Something got lost in that translation, I think.

[struggle4progress]

2. That's another good question for the messenger from the townsfolk!

[pinto]

3. When my mother was dying, she asked before I left for the train station, "Will there be angels?"

Aghh. How does one answer that? I said "Yeah, ma. There will."

A few weeks later she died and we all flew out for her funeral in Chatham, on the elbow of Cape Cod. A squall came up off the bay in the morning and dusted just the tip of the cape in white snow. I smiled.

Ha, I thought. "Hi, ma." It was enough for me.