Expert Consultation

Something that we don’t always recognize about St. Thomas Aquinas was that he was a huge man, and not just because he was overweight. Jacques Maritain writes

When he went for a walk in the fields with his companions, the peasants turned to gaze in astonishment at his lofty stature. He was big, dark, quite portly, and erect. He was tanned the color of wheat, his head large and a bit bald. The Viterbo portrait, more or less well copied and restored, shows a countenance stamped with an admirable power, peaceful and pure; under the raised and open arches of the brows, the tranquil eyes of a child; the features regular, a bit heavy with fat, but strengthened by intelligence; the witty mouth with fine precise curves, one that never told a lie.

Reginald of Piperno was his companion for many years. He was St. Thomas Aquinas’ confessor, heard his general confession on the latter’s deathbed, and gave his funeral oration.

St. Thomas Aquinas Aided by Sts. Peter and Paul by Bartolomeo degli Erri, part of an altarpiece in the church of San Domenico in Modena