The Vicariate of Louis Bertrand, to which the congregation of English Dominicans in Barbados belong, celebrated the Feast of St Thomas Aquinas with evening prayer and the first of a series of intended lectures on various topics.

Regional Seminary lecturer, Sr Diane Jagdeo, OP, delivered her talk, "Aquinas, the Eucharist and the Caribbean ", to almost 100 persons at St Patrick's Cathedral parish hall, Bridgetown , January 25.

The gathering heard first from Fr Peter Clarke, OP, temporarily transferred from Grenada . He delivered a homily based on the scripture reading of the Evening Prayer, laying the foundation for understanding the Dominican spirit which formed Aquinas.

"It all began with (St) Dominic, who realised the need for preaching," said Fr Peter. "He was a man of the gospel; the gospel of Jesus Christ shaped his being."

Realising the need for preaching in his time, Dominic sent the brethren to university to study theology.

"As men of prayer, they believed they were helped in their studies by the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit do not replace the activity of the human mind; grace does not replace nature," Fr Peter declared. "The spirituality of the Dominican is to exploit the mind God has given with our study." It was from such a culture that St Thomas Aquinas emerged.

This "Dominican treasure" was considered the "supreme theologian", said Fr Peter, whose writings, since the 13th century, have been "formative of the Church's thinking".

It was Sr Diane's task to show just how much. Confessing that she was never a "Thomist", Sr Diane admitted that she "fell in love with him" following her study of his writings.

Thomas is considered "the saint of the Blessed Sacrament", she said, and his teachings on the Eucharist have been endorsed since the Council of Trent.

His influence has also been felt in the Caribbean , she said, through the liturgy for Corpus Christi , which he had written, as well as his many devotional songs. She played two songs for the gathering, the piece Panis Angelicus eliciting greater recognition.

Sr Diane Jagdeo emphasises Aquinas' effect on the Caribbean to her listeners. Photo: Laura Ann Phillips.

The pastoral concerns about the Eucharist in our day, were also issues in Aquinas' day. The phenomenon of "bleeding host", for example, was a topic of debate in the 13th century, as well, when Thomas wrote the Summa Theologia , said the lecturer.

The concept of a "prosperity gospel", the biblical question of "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" - often asked by non-Catholics and faithful alike, who wonder whether Catholics are, therefore, cannibals - all these and more, Sr Diane said, Thomas wrote about and debated.

Sr Diane then rendered teachings on the Eucharist as a mystery of faith, that God really would use the lowly substances of bread and wine to be truly present to His people for all time, on transubstantiation - the belief that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ - on Jesus' "real presence" in the Eucharist, on Eucharist as food which is a sacred banquet, food that we need to feed our souls, true food which transforms us, that binds us irrevocably to each other, so that we are also bound to each other's sufferings.

Aquinas meditated frequently on Psalm 22, Sr Diane said, in which he would hear "Christ himself crying out as if He were suffering sin and wounds in His own body".

Sr Diane concluded with a story in which Aquinas placed the completed Corpus Christi liturgy on the altar, offering it to God. Onlookers heard a voice saying, "You have written well about the sacrament of My Body and Blood, Thomas, as well as can be written in human language by one still living this mortal life."

Others say they heard a voice asking Aquinas what he wanted. He is reported to have declared, "The whole of You!"

Sr Diane was expected to deliver a similar lecture in Grenada on the eve of Aquinas' actual January 28 feast.