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Why did St. Thomas Aquinas leave Monte Cassino in 1239?
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St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas, from the Demidoff Altarpiece, tempera on poplar by Carlo Crivelli, 1476; in the National Gallery, London.
St. Thomas Aquinas left the monastery of Monte Cassino in 1239 because the Holy Roman emperor, Frederick II, expelled the monks from the abbey. The expulsion occurred because the monks were perceived as being too obedient to the pope, placing them in conflict with the emperor during the political strife of the era.1
Following his departure, Aquinas was sent to the University of Naples, where he began his studies and eventually decided to join the Dominican order.1