By Maureen McKew
Many people have wondered why, when Villanova University was founded, it
was given the name of a 16th-century Spanish bishop instead
of that of great Augustine. A brief look at the life of Thomas of
Villanova reveals that he was an eminently suitable choice as patron.
0n April 17, 1843, in the face of rising hostility in Philadelphia
against Irish Catholic immigrants, members of the Augustinian community
moved to an estate called Belle Air, west of the city. The previous
year, according to University history, the Reverends Thomas Kyle,
Patrick Moriarty and John P O'Dwyer, O.S.A., had purchased the property
from the estate of John Rudolph.
In August 1843, Father O'Dwyer was named prior of the small community
at Belle Air and on August 28, the feast of St. Augustine, he celebrated
Mass in the parlor of the Rudolph house. At this Mass, it is said, he
placed the property under the patronage of a 16th-century Augustinian
bishop, whose family came from the Spanish village of Villanueva, which
in Latin translates to "Villanova." The word means "new house" or "new
town." As historian David Contosta observed in Villanova University:
American-Catholic Augustinian (Pennsylvania State University Press,
1995), it was "a fitting name for an academic institution that would
become a new home for generations of students."
Who was this Thomas of Villanova and what qualities led the American
Augustinian pioneers to give his name to their first great institution
of learning?
He was born in 1486 in Fuenllana in the province of Toledo, Spain at
the dawn of his country's golden age of prominence, wealth and power in
Europe. When Thomas was 6 years old, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
financed the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World.
The seemingly endless riches that poured into Spain from conquest and
trade produced a cultural explosion in literature and art. It also
produced greed and materialism, some of which pervaded the Spanish
Catholic Church. High Church positions could be bought for the right
price and were occupied by men more interested in power than salvation.
And, of course, the infamous Inquisition was at its worst.
Thomas grew up in the middle of all this. He was brilliant. At the
age of 16, he enrolled in the University of Alcala, rapidly obtained his
degrees in theology and immediately joined the teaching faculty.
As his reputation grew, so did his fame, and soon he was offered a
professorship at the renowned University of Salamanca. To everyone's
amazement, Thomas declined and announced his intention to became an
Augustinian friar. He was less than 30 years old when he turned his back
on the Golden Age.
On November 25, 1517, he took vows of poverty, chastity and
obedience. The following year, he was ordained a priest at the age of
32.
Thomas possessed a superb talent for leadership, and rapidly rose
through the ranks of his order to become a regional provincial.
Interestingly, it was Father Thomas who first began to think about the
spiritual state of the colonies of the Spanish Empire; he promoted the
organization of a missionary band to minister to the peoples of the New
World. He also looked out for the poor and helpless around the
Augustinian community.
Thomas' reputation reached the court of Emperor Charles V, who
invited him to become Bishop of Granada. Thomas had no interest in the
episcopacy, its powers or its politics. He declined. But several years
later, Charles again offered him an episcopal see - this time Valencia.
Once again, Thomas declined.
However, the emperor would not be refused this time and pressured
Thomas' religious superior to order him to accept. Under his vow of
obedience, he had to accept the honor, and on January 1, 1545, at the
age of 59, he became Archbishop of Valencia.
Archbishop Thomas was like few other bishops in Europe at that dine.
While the other bishops amassed fortunes, powers, mistresses and the
like, Thomas quietly went about his diocese, making visits to his
parishioners, finding out their needs. He spent the income of his
wealthy diocese not on himself or great buildings, but rather on
creating social programs for the poor and homeless. He established
schools. He turned the bishop's palace into a soup kitchen and shelter.
He even provided dowries for poor young women, so they could be married
in some dignity.
His biographers note that the Church fathers thought enough of his
intellectual powers and administrative powers that they summoned him in
1545 to the opening of the Council of Trent, which was called to address
much needed reforms and renew the Church spiritually.
Thomas did not attend; he was too busy seeing to the needs of his
people in Valencia, and when the council fathers called again on him, he
was too ill to take part. As he neared death in August of 1555,
Archbishop Thomas gave his few possessions to the poor. He even gave up
his mattress, asking only if he might borrow it until he died. When he
died on September 8, 1555, it was discovered that the Archbishop of
Valencia had left no will. There was no point. He owned absolutely
nothing.
Augustine would have been proud of this spiritual son who, like him,
was brilliant in so many ways and who, unlike Augustine himself, appears
never to have been tempted by self-absorption and intellectual pride.
Thomas of Villanova was an Augustinian in the very best tradition of
his order: a splendid combination of a great intellect and an even
greater heart. Who better to watch over the formation of the hearts and
minds of youthful men and women!
A full biography of St. Thomas of Villanova, The Pelican, by
Siegfried Back, O.S.A., is published by the Augustinian Press. Price:
$7.95. Order on?line through the Augustinian Press Bookstore at
www.augustinian.org or call (610) 527-3330.
