Amazon
Ads |
St
Thomas of Villanueva
Archbishop of Valencia
(1486–1555)
Other names: Tomás García y Martínez
Biographical
Beatified 1618; canonised 1658
Archbishop of Valencia 1545–55†
Prior provincial of the Province of Castile 1534–37
Prior provincial of the Province of Andalusia 1527–29
Visitor general and reformer of the Province of Castile 1525–27
Prior of the monasteries of Salamanca, Burgos and Valladolid
An educator, and philanthropist, Thomas was the son of Alonso Tomás García
and Lucía Martínez y Castellanos, of Villanova de los Infantes.
He was brought up in the practices of religion and charity. Every Friday
his father was wont to give in alms all the meal he earned at the mill,
besides his usual daily dole of bread. On great feast-days he added wood,
wine, and money; while to poor farmers he lent money and seed. On the
death of her husband, Lucia continued the usual alms, and supplied indigent
maidens in the neighbourhood with clothing and money. When sixteen tears
old, Thomas entered the University of Alcalá, where, after proceeding
master of arts and licentiate in theology, he filled the chair of arts,
logic, and philosophy in 1514. Among his auditors were the famed scholars
Ferdinand de Encina and Dominic Soto. With Alcalá, however, he
ended his university associations, having declined the chair of natural
philosophy at Salamanca, where he joined the Augustinians in 1516, his
vows following a year later, and his ordination to priesthood the year
after; his first Mass was celebrated at Christmas, 1518. At Salamanca
Convent, Thomas was given the class of scholastic theology because of
his attachment for books. Preaching in the pulpits of Spain was soon added
to his duties, among other places at Valencia, the field of his later
trials, and Valladolid, seat of the imperial Court and residence of the
Emperor Charles V when on his visits to the Low Countries. In this last-named
city Thomas was named by the emperor his court preacher, and one of his
councillors of state. Rarely, however, did Thomas pay visits of ceremony
to the then master of Europe, though his written correspondence with Charles,
who held his opinions in high esteem, was voluminous. Towards the close
of his life, while at Valencia, he had all the emperor's letters destroyed;
his own letters to the emperor, however, are now stored at Simancas. Apart
from these burdens, Thomas held many offices of trust in his order, for
example, as convent prior in various cities, among others at Valladolid
in 1544, the very year he was called to the See of Valencia. Moreover,
he was twice provincial-prior, first of Andalusia and Castile in 1527,
then six years later of Castile alone, whence the first mission band of
his brethren was sent across the Atlantic in 1533 to establish houses
of their order in Mexico. On the 5th of August 1544, he received his nomination
to the Archbishopric of Valencia, a post that for well-nigh a hundred
years had witnessed no bishop in residence, an appointment that was confirmed
by Paul III. Previously, Thomas had declined the See of Granada, offered
him by the emperor, while that of Valencia he accepted only through obedience
to his superiors. He was consecrated in the church of his order at Valladolid
by Juan, Cardinal Tavera de Pardo, Archbishop of Toledo. On his entrance
to his see on the first of January 1545, of which he was thirty-second
bishop and eighth archbishop, St Thomas opened his career as legislator
and philanthropist, which won for him the titles of 'Almsgiver', 'Father
of the Poor', and 'Model of Bishops', given him at his beatification in
1618 by Paul V. During his eleven years of episcopal rule his most noteworthy
deeds were as follows: a visitation of his diocese, opened a few weeks
after entrance into his see. Among other amendments he inhibited his visitators
from accepting any gifts whatever. He then held a synod, the first at
Valencia for many years, whereby he sought to do away with a number of
abuses, as bloodshed, divorce, concubinage, and many excessive privileges
or unreasonable exemptions; he abolished the underground prisons; rebuilt
the general hospital at Valencia which had just been destroyed by fire;
founded two colleges, one for young ecclesiastics, the other for poor
students; laboured for the conversion of the nuevos Cristianos, whose
profession of Christianity was largely mere outward show; established
a creche near his palace for foundlings and the offspring of indigent
parents; had Mass said at early hours for the working-classes; and in
brief, by statutes, by preaching, and by example, strove to reform the
morals of churchman and layman. Towards the poor especially his heart
was ever alive with pity; to them his palace gate was always open; daily
he had a repast for every poor person that applied for help, as many even
as four to five hundred thus getting their meals at his hands. In every
district of the city he had almoners appointed with orders especially
to search out the respectable persons who shrank from asking alms; these
he had supplied with money, food, clothing, while as to indigent workmen,
poor farmers, and mechanics, he replenished their stock and brought them
tools, thus putting them in the way of making a living. His whole life
as replete with acts of practical kindness. He spent his spare time chiefly
in prayer and study; his table was one of simple fare, with no luxuries.
His dress was inexpensive; he mended with his own hands whatever needed
repairs. Numberless are the instances of Thomas' supernatural gifts, of
his power of healing the sick, of multiplication of food, of redressing
grievances, of his ecstasies, of his conversions of sinners. He was taken
ill in August 1555, of angina pectoris, of which he died at the age of
67, at the termination of Mass in his bedroom. His last words were the
versicles: 'In manus tuas, Domine', etc.; his remains were entombed at
the convent Church of Our Lady of Help of his order outside the city walls,
whence later they were brought to the cathedral. Thomas was beatified
by Paul V on the 7th of October 1618, who set his feast-day for the 18th
of September, and canonised by Alexander VII on the first of November
1658.
In 1959, he was declared a patron of studies in the Augustinian Order.
Various
reasons are given to account for Thomas' non-appearance at the Council
of Trent, among them that he was ill, unable to stand the fatigue of travel;
that his people would not brook his absence; and that the emperor was
unable to do without his aid at home. The writings of St Thomas, mainly
sermons, are replete with practical norms of mystic theology.
Place of birth: Fuentellana,
Spain
Place of death: Valenica
Place of burial: Cathedral of Valencia
© 2024 The Universal Compendium