Villanova University - Belle Air Yearbook (Villanova, PA)

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u OMING up the walk from the Pennsy station, the student is confronted by the towering figure of St. Augustine holding in his hand a heart, the symbol of Christian love. This flaming heart in the hand of Augustine sig' nifies the dominant element of his life and of the lives of his followers, the Augustinian Fathers of Villanova. Augustine was bom in Northern Africa (modem Tunisia) in 354. His mother, Monica, prompted him in his ch ldhood towards the teaching of Christ but his father, the pagan Patricius, offset that influence by handing the boy over to the secular schools for his education. His mother continued to send up persistent prayers for his soul’s safety. Only after Augustine had wandered through the mazes of Manicheeism — a materialistic superstition — were her prayers answered. In Milan in Italy he met the bishop of that city, Ambrose, and from him learned the true way of life. By constant study, his mother's prayers, and the help of Ambrose he was diverted from his unhappy and unholy life to the pure path of Chastity and Truth. Ardently he pursued his new found Ideal. Baptized by Ambrose, he began to become Augustine the Saint. Returned to Africa, he established in his native town the monastic life which still flourishes throughout the world. At the insistence of his bishop and the people of Hippo he was ordained Priest. After five years of teaching and preaching and example, he was elevated to the See of Hippo as Bishop of his own people. He ruled over his flock untiringly for thirty'four years until his death in 430. At his death the Vandal hordes were even at the gates of Hippo, and when they triumphantly scattered the African Church they also unwittingly scattered Augustine’s ideals throughout Europe. The monasticism which he founded in Africa was spread to France and Spain and Italy. It flourished there until united by Papal authority under one head in 1256. Then it spread to England and to Ireland, and from Ireland after the long course of centuries it passed over to America. The first Augustinians came to Philadelphia in 1796 and in 1842 established a country place as a prospective Motherhouse and College at Villanova. They brought with them to lovely Eastern Pennsylvania the same devotion to ideals of Truth and Love which Augustine himself exemplified in Africa so many centuries ago. And the burning heart of the statue at the head of Pennsy path is the symbol of that devotion.

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cCK omai ST. THOMAS was born in 1488, not at Villanova, as his name would indicate, but at Fuentellana, a village near Villanova (Villanueva) in Spain. He has been called Thomas of Villanova because of the custom of religious orders in Castile to name a person from the place where he received his early education. After his training at Villanova, he entered the University of Alcala at the age of six teen. At this celebrated university he received the master of arts and licentiate in theology and in 1514, at the age of twenty-six, he occupied the chair of arts, logic and theology in that university. His professional days were short, however, for in 1516 he sought entrance into the Augustinian Order at Salamanca. He professed his vows in 1517 and was ordained a priest in 1518. In the convent at Salamanca, he was given the class of Scholastic Philosophy and within a short time he received the added duty of preaching in many of the principal churches of Spain, among which was the church in Valladolid, the scat of the imperial Court and rcsi' dencc of the Emperor Charles V when on his visits from the Low Countries. It was in Valla- dolid that St. Thomas attracted the attention of the Emperor, who appointed him the Court preacher and one of his Councillors of State. St. Thomas rarely appeared at Court but his correspondence with the Emperor was voluminous. The Emperor highly valued the opinions of his learned preacher. In 1527 St. Thomas was elected Prior-Provincial of the Augustinians of Andalusia and Castile and in 1533 of Castile alone. While Prior- Provincial of Castile, one of his first acts was to send the first missionary Kind of Augustinians to America to establish houses of the Order in Mexico Although it was against his wishes, he was ordered by obedience to accept the bishopric of Valencia in 1544. His work in this See won him the titles of Father of the Poor, the Almsgiver and the Model of Bishops. Here we sec him as a true reformer and disciple of Christ. He fought against blo xlshed, divorce and immorality, abolished underground prisons, and rebuilt the general hospital of Valencia. He had the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated at early hours for the working classes, and he used his miraculous powers of healing the sick and the multiplication of food for them and for the poor. In the field of education he established two colleges, one for ecclesiastics and one for poor students. In 1555 he died after a short illness, just after finishing the celebration of Mass. After considering St. Thomas, the scholar, educator and reformer, it is not difficult to realize why the Augustinian forefathers in the United States dedicated their first province in the United States and their college to God under the patronage of St. Thomas. Through his zeal the Augus- ttnians first set foot in America, and after his example, the Augustinians avc continued to spread Christian learning by the particular means of educatton of the youth of America. ST THOMAS OF VILLANOVA DIVIDING HIS CLOTHES AMONG BEGGAR BOYS