This is amazing!

The skull of St. Thomas Aquinas arrived at the Dominican convent of Toulouse, France in preparation for the order’s celebration of the saint’s 700th anniversary of his canonization in the Catholic Church.

St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican friar and priest. He is one of the Church’s greatest teachers, theologians, and philosophers. His titles include Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor.

Pope John XXII canonized him in 1323. Pope Pius V declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1567.

The Dominican order announced the historic arrival of the skull relic in a Jan. 25 social media post, explaining its placement in a new reliquary for the upcoming celebration.

Here’s the announcement below:

Click here if you cannot see the post above.

The Dominicans’ post reads, ” [Seventh] centenary of St Thomas Aquinas – the skull of St Thomas has been received by the Convent of Toulouse. It will be placed in a new reliquary made by Augustin Frison Roche.”

In early January, painter and sculptor Augustin Frison-Roche published a photo of the reliquary to his Instagram account.

Here’s the photo:

Click here if you cannot see the post above.

Roche writes in his post, “Have a blessed year everyone. / For me it starts in the light of St. Thomas of Aquinas…”

Following the Dominican order’s announcement, they published photos and videos of St. Thomas Aquinas’ skull relic and its placement in the new reliquary on Jan. 26.

The rare event occurred inside the Dominican convent’s sacristy, in the presence of Mgr. Jean-Louis Bruguès, O.P., Toulouse Diocese Chancellor Fr. J.-François Galinier-Pallerola, and Toulouse Convent Prior Fr. Philippe Jaillot, O.P.

Here’s photos of the relic below:

Click here if you cannot see the post above.

The convent’s post explains that attending a reliquary opening is “rare,” “since it is sealed to guarantee the authenticity of its contents.”

The post then depicts the process of its placement from the wooden box into the new reliquary.

The blessing of the new reliquary will occur at the convent on Jan. 27 and move to the Jacobins Church for an opening Mass on Sat., Jan. 28. A procession of the relics will follow the Mass.

In addition to the post above, the Dominicans filmed the reliquary’s movement process. The video shows the priests, artist, and other attendees moving the skull relic to the reliquary.

Here’s the video below:


Click here if you cannot see the video above.

The order will celebrate the seventh centenary from 2023-2025. Click here for more information.
“If then, you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because he himself is the way.” — St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!

[See also: The Forgotten Vice of “Effeminacy”: What St. Thomas Aquinas Says in His Summa]

[See also: Preparing for a Zombie Uprising, Summa Theologica Style]

Share this post