When did St. Thomas resolve to write the Summa?
— It is impossible to determine at what epoch in his lifetime St. Thomas resolved to write the Summa. We know that in his infancy those who cared for him were frequently astonished on hearing the child ask, with unexpected seriousness, “What is God?” It may be supposed that thus early in life grace was perfecting nature in this favored child, preparing him gradually to become in due time the most distinguished representative of that science which takes its name from God, of whom it treats.[66] His sojourn at Monte Cassino, his studies at Naples, his reading of the Scriptures and of Aristotle, his study of the “Sentences,” in which Peter Lombard gave a compendium of the most important texts of the Fathers relating to theology, his training under Albertus Magnus, who was deeply impressed with the order and accuracy of Aristotle’s writings, and who was himself fond of experimenting and of collecting materials for rebuilding the edifice of philosophy and theology — all this tended to pre
