Thomas Aquinas on Charity I Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.

The Thomistic Institute

Christianity, Society & Culture, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Thomism, Catholicism

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Fr. Cajetan Cuddy provides an in-depth exploration of charity as the highest theological virtue in the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas, laying foundational principles for understanding just war, peace, and the ordered structure of the Christian moral life.

This lecture was given on June 10th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speaker:

Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P., is a priest of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. He serves as the general editor of the Thomist Tradition Series, and he is co-author of Thomas and the Thomists: The Achievement of St. Thomas Aquinas and His Interpreters. He has written for numerous publications on the philosophy and theology of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Thomist Tradition.

Keywords: Christian Anthropology, Divine Friendship, Eternal Law, Intellectual Monasticism, Just War Theory, Moral Virtue, Natural Law Tradition, Summa Theologiae, Theological Virtue of Charity, Thomistic Ethics

Transcript

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0:00.0	As of July 1st, 2025, applications are open for the Thomistic Institute's Rome Study Abroad program for spring
0:06.8	26. Emmerse yourself in the Catholic intellectual tradition and experience profound opportunities
0:13.3	for spiritual formation in the heart of the church. Applications close August 15th. Learn more and apply
0:20.2	at www.comistic institute.org
0:23.5	forward slash Rome.
0:27.8	Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast. Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual
0:33.0	tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square. The lectures on this podcast
0:38.2	are organized by university students at Temistic Institute chapters around the world. To learn more
0:44.0	and to attend these events, visit us at to mystic institute.org. So what we're going to do,
0:50.1	this is the sessions this week, as you know know are all ordered around the question of just war
0:55.3	and so we're going there but in terms of introduction which is what today is we'll do three things
1:03.3	one will give an overview of what st thomas is about since we're looking at equinus on just war we'll
1:09.0	start with the big picture of Aquinas.
1:20.7	Then we'll look at fundamental principles which inform anything that Aquinas says related to action, culture, reality itself.
1:32.5	And then we'll tie that into charity with an eye towards terminating, culminating in the question of just war later on this week more explicitly. So today, part of what we're doing is introduction and an overview of charity.
1:38.9	Now, what I did is you saw, I didn't assign a lot of reading because I encourage reading
1:43.2	this very carefully.
1:45.0	So that's why.
1:46.1	Now, what I hope to do today in some ways, we could have begun reading after doing what we're going to do now, but be that as it may, maybe in light of what I say today, some of you will know most, if not all of it.
1:58.4	Some will find it not so familiar.
2:03.7	But regardless, we will do principles and then get into the text in tandem. And I also realize that some of you come from different
2:10.2	backgrounds. Some of you are finishing doctors. Some of you are in graduate master's programs. Some of
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