Chapter 5 - The Real Life of St. Thomas Summary and Analysis

This chapter gives a rough biographical overview of St. Thomas' life as a Dominican friar. After remarking that sanctity is something which is, by its very nature, something hard to examine, Chesterton says that one must begin by first considering the most external characteristics of the saint. Thus, the chapter begins by remarking on St. Thomas' physical stature, which was quite large and even fat. His personality was largely characterized by a kind of absent-mindedness and reflectiveness. In his work, St. Thomas always refrained from personally attacking his opponents and, even though he was often the intellectually superior, always maintained a humble demeanor. He was very careful to not give an impression to others that he was a holy man and was even anxious to avoid certain...