*Image: The Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas (aka, Aquinas in Ecstasy) by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1598 [Museum of Fine Arts Seville, Seville, Spain]. Saint Thomas, lifted in glory, is surrounded by fathers of the Church: Saint Gregory, Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, and Saint Augustine.
Robert Royal is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent books are Columbus and the Crisis of the West and A Deeper Vision: The Catholic Intellectual Tradition in the Twentieth Century.