The Life And Labours of Saint Thomas of Aquin

he was removed, and sent by his parents to the University of Naples, at the advice of his uncle, Abbot Sinnebald. But this can hardly be the case, first, because superiors always prefer to retain their choicest subject, and, then, because Abbot Sinnebald had been some time dead and buried when the Imperial soldiers took possession of the Monastery. Nor is it likely that his parents, who sent him to the Abbey with the settled purpose of his becoming some day Abbot, would willingly remove him from it, and cast him, at twelve years of age, into one of the most dissolute towns in Italy. The real cause of his departure has already been described; and, naturally enough, the boy resided with his parents till they could place him at another school. The change must have been a violent one for the young Aquino. The noise and excitement of a great feudal castle must have offered a great contrast to the uneventful monotony of the cloister. Horses, andfalcons, and the tramp of armed men, the free carousing, the singing of troubadours and minstrels, the shouts of mirth which accompanied the amusements of knights and esquires, must have been the occasion of many temptations to a boy of twelve. But Thomas, though but a boy, had a mind which was occupied with higher things than the mere transitory pastimes of his father's castle. It must be remembered that he had often poured out his heart by the tomb of blessed Benedict, and had joined the solemn throng of godly men in holy...