Aquinas Catechism

The essentials of the Catholic Faith
— clearly, comprehensively, and beautifully explained
by one of the Church’s greatest thinkers!

Although St. Thomas Aquinas was one of the Church’s most intellectually powerful theologians, few know that he also wrote a great deal that’s well within the reach of ordinary believers.

In fact, as you’ll find in The Aquinas Catechism, St. Thomas had a remarkable ability to communicate the Faith — including both its most complex and its simplest elements — in plain language. Here you’ll find his deeply insightful, straightforward, and clear explanations of the Apostles’ Creed, the Commandments, and the Sacraments — as well as of the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

In other words, this book will give you a basic course in the Catholic Faith, taught by the Church’s greatest theologian.

Above all, let St. Thomas teach you how to explain, defend, and live your Faith . . . with the clear-sighted wisdom of a saint!

"St. Thomas’s great influence has been a function of the simplicity and clarity of his writing."
Karl Keating
Catholicism and Fundamentalism

"A marvelous companion and comparison document for the contemporary Church's Catechism."
The Very Rev. Peter Stravinskas
The Catholic Answer

"St. Thomas wrote that 'three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe, to know what he ought to desire, and to know what he ought to do.’ The wisdom and life-changing power of this maxim will reverberate mightily in all who ponder the truths contained in The Aquinas Catechism."
Patrick Madrid
Search and Rescue and Surprised by Truth

I. I believe in God

A. Faith

B. The nature and work of God

II. And in Jesus Christ

A. Christ is the Son of God

B. Christ is the Word of God

III. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit

A. Analogies by which to understand the Incarnation

B. Errors regarding the Incarnation

C. Benefits of belief in the Incarnation

IV. He suffered under Pontius Pilate

A. Christ's death is difficult to conceive

B. Why Christ suffered for us

V. He descended into Hell

A. Reasons for Christ's descent into Hell

B. What we may learn from Christ's descent into Hell

VI. On the third day He rose again

A. Christ rose from the dead in order to teach us

B. Christ's Resurrection differs from that of others

C. What Christ's Resurrection teaches us

VII. He ascended into Heaven

A. Christ's Ascension was sublime

B. Christ's Ascension was reasonable

C. Christ's Ascension was profitable

VIII. He will come again to judge

A. Judgment belongs to Christ

B. The form of the judgment

C. Why the judgment is to be feared

D. How we are to prepare for the judgment

IX. I believe in the Holy Spirit

A. Characteristics of the Holy Spirit

B. Fruits of the Holy Spirit

X. The holy Catholic Church

A. The Church is one

B. The Church is holy

C. The Church is catholic ("universal")

D. The Church is firmly established

XI. The communion of saints

A. Christ's good is communicated to all members

B. The Sacraments communicate Christ's good

C. The forgiveness of sins

D. Benefits of the communion of saints

XII. The resurrection of the body

A. Faith in the resurrection benefits us

B. The characteristics of all risen bodies

C. Qualities of the glorified bodies of the blessed

D. Qualities of the bodies of the damned

XIII. And life everlasting

A. The nature of the eternal life of the blessed

B. The nature of the eternal death of the wicked

2. HOW CHRISTIANS SHOULD PRAY

I. The Lord's Prayer

A. Conditions required for prayer

B. Benefits of prayer

II. Our Father

A. Why we call God Father

B. What we owe God as our Father

C. What we owe our neighbor (our Father)

III. Who art in Heaven

A. Confidence in prayer

B. Meaning of who art in Heaven

C. These words give us confidence in prayer

IV. Hallowed be Thy name

A. Characteristics of God's name

B. The meaning of hallowed

V. Thy kingdom come

A. The gift of piety

B. Reasons for this petition

C. This fulfills the beatitude: "Blessed are the meek"

VI. Thy will be done

A. The gift of knowledge

B. God's will for us

C. This fulfills the beatitude: "Blessed are they who mourn"

VII. Give us this day our daily bread

A. The gift of fortitude

B. Sins that arise from desiring temporal goods

C. The twofold meaning of bread

VIII. And forgive us our trespasses

A. The gift of counsel

B. Reasons for asking forgiveness

C. When is this petition fulfilled?

D. What is required of us?

IX. And lead us not into temptation

A. The nature of temptation

B. The sources of temptation

C. Release from temptation

X. But deliver us from evil

A. God prevents evils

B. God comforts the suffering

C. God rewards the afflicted

D. God strengthens men through trials

XI. A short exposition of the Lord's Prayer

A. What men should desire

B. What men should avoid

XII. The Hail Mary

A. The superiority of angels over men

B. The superiority of the Blessed Virgin over the angels

C. Only the Virgin's Fruit affords what Eve sought in her fruit

3. HOW CHRISTIANS SHOULD LIVE

I. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me

A. How the First Commandment was violated

B. Reasons we should adore one God

II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain

A. The meanings of in vain

B. Taking God's name in vain

C. Taking God's name justly

III. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day

A. Reasons for this commandment

B. How to keep the Sabbath holy

IV. Honor thy father and thy mother

A. Reasons we should honor our parents

B. Obligations to parents that arise from these benefits

C. Rewards for honoring our parents

D. Others who deserve the reverence due to fathers

V. Thou shalt not kill

A. Killing

B. Anger

VI. Thou shalt not commit adultery

A. Adultery

B. Fornication and impurity

C. Married intercourse

D. The prohibition of adultery and fornication.

VII. Thou shalt not steal

A. Ways of stealing

B. Reasons stealing is forbidden

VIII. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor

A. Ways of bearing false witness

B. Reasons lying is forbidden

C. Reasons people lie

IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods

A. Commandments that concern thoughts

B. Reasons for this commandment

X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife

A. Occasions when sin rules in the flesh

B. How concupiscence can be overcome

XI. Summary of the Commandments

A. Love of God

B. Love of neighbor

4. HOW THE CHURCH NOURISHES CHRISTIANS

I. The Sacraments in general

A. The nature of a sacrament

B. The number of the Sacraments

C. The effects of the Sacraments

D. Characteristics of all the Sacraments

E. Unique characteristics of particular sacraments

II. The Sacraments in particular

A. Baptism

B. Confirmation

C. The Holy Eucharist

D. Penance

E. The Anointing of the Sick

F. Holy Orders

G. Matrimony

III. The gifts of the Sacraments

A. The three gifts of the soul

B. The four gifts of the body