In this century we found ourselves right in the middle of the Middle Ages, when most of the crusades happened. This was a very critical period indeed in history and, consequently, the beginning of one of the most difficult chapters of the History of Christianity, which was the institution of the Tribunals of the Inquisition.

We had the birth and consolidation of a philosophical proposal called Scholasticism, whose great philosopher and doctor of the Church, initiator of this movement, was the fantastic Italian Thomas Aquinas. He brought notable contributions and, thanks to him, religion went to the colleges and, until the present day, his theses are studied. This was the second movement, super important, that happened within the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church.

The first happened in the 4th century, Patristics (the fathers of the Church), the doctrine of Augustine of Hippo. The proposal was that they become the apologists, the defenders of the faith.

And it is in this same century that Francis of Assisi appears, as if we had the disease and the remedy placed next to the disease...

This century was still under the aegis of religious intolerance, in which the lights of renewal had not yet, in fact, arisen. They will begin to arise in the 14th and 15th centuries to be made concrete in the 16th century. It really was a very difficult period that humanity lived, within a very dark perspective of its destiny.

Dominic of Gusmão was the initiator of the Dominican order, or order of the Preachers. They were essentially preachers of the Gospel, but later ended up becoming inquisitors.

Great universities arose in this century such as Oxford, in England, Sorbonne, in Paris, Bologna, in Italy and Salamanca, in Spain. Initially, theology, philosophy and medical science were studied.

Thomas Aquinas was the one who raised Christianity to the status of science for the universities, offering it as being a branch within philosophy, opening a perspective of detachment of Christianity, not as simply a religious practice, but also a logical doctrine, with its principles as a philosophical current, like so many others, like the pre-Socratic, Socratic and post-Socratic ones.

So, he provided Christianity with an academic approach. In this way, he offered a very effective revision of its concepts.

History teachers frequently say that the Middle Ages was the Dark Age, but it was not exactly like that. We had in this period great figures such as Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas, and great proposals arose, such as Scholasticism.

We could say that Scholasticism was a movement that preceded the Renaissance, without which Greek philosophy would not have returned to its peak, with the studies of the ancients, of reason and of anthropocentrism. But, this was only possible because Thomas Aquinas provided this great opening in the Church.

Thomas Aquinas is the author of the work “Summa Theologica”, a true treatise of theology and philosophy. In this work he brings something fantastic, five scientific proofs of the existence of God.

First proof – The Way of Motion: “Everything that moves is moved by something. As there cannot be an infinite regression of movers, there must exist a first unmoved mover, which is God. Things do not arise from nothing. If things arose it is because something existed before things”. He calls this “The thesis of the first mover”. By the way, this thesis is Aristotle’s, because in classical antiquity, before Jesus, he spoke of God in this same way.

Second proof – Way of Efficient Cause: “Nothing causes itself, every cause has a previous cause and to avoid infinite action there must be a first cause which is God”.

Third proof: “Things exist, but they could not exist, that is, everything exists because life brings us a contingency. If everything were contingent, at some moment nothing would exist, but since something exists, there must be a necessary being that always existed, God. That is, the world is not a drifting boat, there is something coordinating the natural laws, the laws of space”. This is what Einstein, later, in the 20th century, would call the four laws of the universe, the strong nuclear, the weak nuclear, the electromagnetic and the gravitational.

Fourth proof – Way of the Degrees of Perfection: “We observe degrees of qualities more or less good, true, noble; this explains the existence of a maximum being that is the source of all perfection, God. If there are degrees of perfection until reaching the pure spirit, above the pure spirit there has to be someone who created it, God”.

Fifth proof – Way of the Government of the World or Way of Finality: “Things without intelligence act without purpose. This suggests that intelligent things are directed by an even more intelligent being, who is God”.

Thomas Aquinas was one of the most cultured and intelligent personalities that humanity has ever known. But, one asks, how did this thought not survive? How in this same century, did this thought have its fall, only returning to the surface in the 19th century?

When Christianity went to the universities, it moved away from the people. The people were then at one degree of maturation of concepts and the professors were at another. In the next century, a religious man will appear in England called John Wyclif, who said that Christianity was moving away from the people, that the people needed simpler things so that they could learn. It was necessary that Christianity connect with people so that the Gospel would not become so intellectualized, that it would be something that people could welcome in their heart.

Thomas Aquinas was the apex of instruction, someone who was so intelligent that simpler people could not follow him. He also wrote something that, at the time, caused great controversy. Recently, the Church gave a new clothing about it.

Until then, Jesus had had twelve disciples, but Thomas Aquinas wrote that Mirian of Magdala (or Mary of Magdala) was also an apostle. Among the women who followed Jesus, he considered her as one of the closest, this being one of the reasons for Jesus having appeared to her first after his death: she was a faithful follower.

The crusades saw their end in this century. It was a very difficult period, in which the main objective was the reconquest of the tomb of Jesus and of the whole territory of Israel. In truth, they wanted to reconquer the territories that had been lost, reestablishing the Christian faith in these spaces. However, the worst was still to come, The Holy Inquisition.

Officially decreed by Pope Gregory IX, the Inquisition would act in the name of Christian Doctrine. However, the persecuted had no defense. The accusations were summary, the tribunals lacked any kind of defense. The executions were processes as cruel as possible. People were placed in torture machines and killed slowly... A period of horror indeed, very difficult.

The Inquisition settled in several countries of Europe. Its main objective was to persecute the heretics, those who thought differently from the Church. And it was gaining strength, so much so that the Church saw that, through it, it was reaching its objectives. One of them, to enrich more and more, because they despoiled humans, took their lands and goods.

There were other interests, such as expelling the Muslims. For this, they forged accusations, created situations that were not true, and they did the same with the Jews. Then the inquisitors arose and a great partnership between Church and State. One of the most fearsome inquisitors was Tomás de Torquemada, he tore out people’s eyes. Period of much cruelty...

Much is imputed to the Church the responsibility for the Inquisition, but this responsibility has to be divided between Church and State. Because being ruler of a region, the State allowed religion to torture and kill its subjects. In a certain way there was collusion between political and religious power.

These events are not mentioned with joy in the heart, on the contrary, with much sadness...

It is difficult to specify how long the Inquisition lasted. We have records of its occurrence in the 19th century, that is, eight centuries of inquisitorial processes. We are narrating facts and not making judgment against the Church, and in the softest way possible...

Intolerance was in the air. Further ahead we will see that the Protestant Church, unfortunately, also adopted the Inquisition and made many victims. Both the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church start from the same proposal, called Parousia (second coming of Jesus). When one receives the host in Church, in the celebration of the mass, it is to be close to Jesus, awaiting His return.

Isabel of Aragon was one of the most notable feminine personalities that the world has ever known. She was born in Spain and was the daughter of great heirs of the throne of Aragon. There were at that time several kingdoms in Spain, afterwards they were uniting and, thus, Spain was formed.

Isabel of Aragon was promised to the king of Portugal, Don Dinis. She was very beautiful and still very young when she married the king and they had several children. He had his extramarital adventures and she was a noble woman, for she dedicated her whole life to charity. While the king went out for his battles, for his adventures, she stayed taking care of the poor, the hungry and the needy.

An interesting phenomenon, or miracle, that happened and that demonstrates how noble Isabel of Aragon was. One day the king was told that when he left home, his wife went to do charity. Then he returned, unexpectedly, and came upon his wife holding the apron with many breads to give to the hungry. He asked what she brought in the dress and she told him, with much presence of spirit, that they were roses. He asked her to show him what she had hidden and when she lowered the apron, the breads had transformed into roses and fell at his feet.

After the king died, his oldest son began to rule, and she went to live in the city of Coimbra. She only did not take the habit of the Poor Clares because she thought that, as a noble, she could do more for the needy.

She became a benefactress of the convent of the Poor Clares, in the city of Coimbra. She dedicated the rest of her days to helping the poor and needy. This was Isabel of Aragon.

This century was of much cruelty and much horror. But it was also the century in which lived, to give some relief to humanity, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas and Isabel of Aragon. In some way, Someone looks after us...