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Why was St. Thomas Aquinas named a doctor of the church?
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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 was named a doctor of the church by Pope Pius V in 1567 because his writings and teachings are considered to be of particular importance to Roman Catholic theology, with his works regarded as both true and timeless.12
As the foremost medieval Scholastic, Aquinas produced a comprehensive synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy. His masterpieces, the Summa theologiae and the Summa contra gentiles, provided a classical systematization of Latin theology that influenced church doctrine for centuries. Known as the Doctor Communis ("Common Doctor") and Doctor Angelicus ("Angelic Doctor"), he is recognized by the church as its foremost Western philosopher and theologian.342