● “God is the life of the soul—as the efficient cause, not the formal cause.”
—Disputations Concerning Charity, I.
● “The human soul is the actuality of an organism, which is its instrument—not, however, for every activity, for some activities of the soul surpass the range of the body.”
—Disputations Concerning the Soul, 2.
● “The mind is a subsisting form, and is consequently immortal. Aristotle agrees that the mind is divine and perpetual (De Anima, I, 5).”
—Disputations Concerning the Soul, 14.
● "Therefore, the spirit in us is that by which we are akin to spiritual substances; but the soul is that through which we are akin to the brutes. Consequently, the spirit is the human mind, namely, the intellect and will. This has led some to assert that there are different souls in us: one which perfects and vivifies the body and is called a soul in the proper sense; another is the spirit, having an intellect by which we understand and a will by which we will. Consequently, those two are called substances rather than souls. But this opinion was condemned in the book, The Dogmas of the Church. Therefore, we must say that the essence of the soul is one and the same, and by its essence it vivifies the body, and by its power, which is called the intellect, it is the principle of understanding eternal things. How this is possible will be clear. For the more perfect a form is, the less its activity depends on matter. Thus the forms of the elements, because they are most imperfect, do not extend beyond matter. Therefore, since the soul is the most noble of forms, it should have an action which altogether transcends the power of matter. That action is called understanding, on which follows its natural inclination, namely, willing."
—Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 4, lect. 2.
The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas (west wall), by Andrea da Firenze.
Fresco, 1366-67; Cappellone degli Spagnoli, Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
