Background
Thomas was born of noble parentage at Sint-Pieters-Leeuw near Brussels, in the Duchy of Brabant in 1201. Died 15 May 1272.
Thomas was born of noble parentage at Sint-Pieters-Leeuw near Brussels, in the Duchy of Brabant in 1201. Died 15 May 1272.
At the age of five his education began at Liège, where he spent eleven years mastering the difficulties of the trivium and quadrivium. At the age of sixteen he received the habit of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine in the Abbey of Cantimpré, where he was eventually elevated to the priesthood. Immediately after his profession in the following year, he was sent to Cologne to pursue the higher theological studies of the order, under the tutelage of the illustrious Albert the Great.
From Cologne, where he spent four years, he went to Paris, to the Dominican studium of Saint James, to perfect himself in the sciences and to prepare for the apostolate of preaching.
Returning to Leuven in 1240, he was made professor of philosophy and theology—an office he filled with rare distinction. His missionary activities extended throughout Brabant and into Germany, Belgium, and France.
M. Newman, Barbara, educated, Margot H. King and Barbara Newman, translations Thomas of Cantimpré, The Collected Saints" Lives: Abbot John of Cantimpré, Christina the Astonishing, Margaret of Ypres, and Lutgard of Aywières (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008) (Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts 19).