Textus Latinus
Sanctus Thomas Aquinas · Summa Theologiae
Summa Theologiae Reader
A local, question-by-question reader for the four completed parts of the Summa: Latin original, every verified translation imported into the local corpus, and concrete scholia in either synchronised columns or article-aligned rows.
Complete order
The four completed parts of the received Summa
The local parallel corpus contains the four parts completed by Saint Thomas: Prima Pars, Prima Secundae, Secunda Secundae and Tertia Pars. Latin is stored question by question. The translation selector exposes every standard language and enables only verified editions actually present in the local corpus.
Prima Pars · Question 1
The Nature and Extent of Sacred Doctrine
Ten articles
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Translatio · EN
English translation
Context and study
What the Summa is, and how to read it fruitfully
The Summa is not a loose encyclopedia and not a devotional anthology. It is a disciplined theological architecture: questions are posed, objections are heard, authority is received, reason is ordered, and the answer is given in service of sacred doctrine.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thomas was a Dominican theologian whose work joins contemplation, Scripture, Aristotle, the Fathers and scholastic precision. His theology is neither cold rationalism nor private speculation: it is the disciplined service of revealed truth.
He writes as a son of the Church. The purpose of the Summa is to lead the mind into a clearer vision of God, creation, grace, Christ, the sacraments and the last end of man.
History of the work
The Summa Theologiae was composed in the thirteenth century as a teaching instrument for sacred doctrine. It was left unfinished at Thomas’s death, and the Supplementum was later compiled from related material, especially his commentary on the Sentences.
Its order became one of the great intellectual maps of Catholic theology because it moves from God as source, through human return to God, to Christ and the sacraments.
The scholastic method
Each article follows a careful rhythm: difficulties are stated, an authoritative witness is given, the answer is developed, and the objections are resolved. This method trains the reader to distinguish, not to flatten.
Read slowly. The objections are not distractions; they sharpen the question. The response is not a slogan; it is a reasoned theological judgment under revelation.
Prima Pars
God, divine attributes, Trinity, creation, angels, man and providence.
I-II
Man’s last end, human acts, passions, habits, law, sin, grace and merit.
II-II
Faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, states of life and vices.
Tertia Pars
Christ, His mysteries and the sacraments in the part completed by Thomas. The later Supplement is a distinct compilation and is not silently mixed into the local Thomas corpus.
Reading path
A practical order for first study
Readers new to Thomas should not begin by treating the Summa as a search engine. Begin with the architecture, then read selected articles in sequence, and only later compare disputed questions across the work.
1. Read the prologue and first questions
Start with sacred doctrine itself: its necessity, dignity, mode and relation to other sciences. This gives the method of the whole work.
2. Follow the exitus-reditus order
God is first principle. Creatures proceed from Him. Rational creatures return to Him by grace, virtue, Christ, sacraments and glory.
3. Compare with catechism and liturgy
Thomas is most fruitful when read with Scripture, creed, sacramental worship and the Church’s teaching office rather than as an isolated philosophical system.