Saint Thomas of Villanova: Next Doctor of the Church?

The Emeritus Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, Father Miguel Ángel Orcasitas OSA, provides context for what may become the thirty-ninth Doctor of the Holy Church. It is a long process, spanning over 150 years, involving numerous ecclesial realities. This is its history, legacy, and influence.

What does it mean to be a Doctor of the Church?

In the Catholic Church’s calendar of saints, some are prominently designated as “Doctors of the Church.” The conditions for a saint to be declared a Doctor were established by Pope Benedict XIV in the 18th century, although several saints had already been proclaimed doctors earlier. First, the individual must be a canonized saint. Second, their writings must contain eminent doctrine—meaning they contributed theological or spiritual insights that clarify doctrine in significant areas, making them a reliable teacher not only for their time but for the Church throughout history. Third, the Pope or a council must officially declare them a Doctor.

When did the declarations begin?

This practice began in the Middle Ages. Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303) issued a decretal in 1298 proclaiming the first Doctors of the Church: the four principal Fathers of the Western Church—St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Jerome. Their recognition affirmed their role in shaping essential theological concepts during times of doctrinal controversy.

Nearly three centuries later, Pope Pius V, after the Council of Trent, declared St. Thomas Aquinas a Doctor on April 11, 1567. Notably, both the Pope and the new Doctor belonged to the Dominican Order. In 1568, Pius V also declared four Eastern Fathers as Doctors: St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. John Chrysostom—an important acknowledgment of the Eastern Church.

In 1588, Pope Sixtus V added St. Bonaventure to the list. Again, both the Pope and the new Doctor were Franciscans. Their shared religious affiliation did not hinder their recognition.

Recently proclaimed Doctors

Most recent Popes have named Doctors: Paul VI, Benedict XVI, Francis, and recently Leo XIV. Pope John XXIII named none but supported the idea of declaring St. Teresa a Doctor. Paul VI did so on September 27, 1970, making her the first female Doctor. Just days later, on October 4, he declared St. Catherine of Siena a Doctor.

Subsequent Popes expanded the list: John Paul II named St. Thérèse of Lisieux in 1997; Benedict XVI named St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. John of Ávila in 2012; Pope Francis named St. Gregory of Narek in 2015 and St. Irenaeus of Lyon in 2022. Finally, in 2025, Pope Leo XIV named St. John Henry Newman, bringing the total to 38 Doctors.

Why propose Doctor of the Church for St. Thomas of Villanova?

The key is identifying where his doctrine is eminent and influential. His sermons, or “conciones,” are central. First published in Alcalá de Henares in 1572, they have been reprinted for centuries worldwide. Over 1080 studies and articles attest to his theological and pastoral impact.

His image as the “almsgiving saint” is widespread in art and devotion. Churches, schools, and hospitals invoke him as patron; religious communities and associations continue his charitable legacy.

His sermons, originally in Spanish but published in Latin, are now available in a bilingual critical edition (Latin-Spanish) in the BAC’s Complete Works—11 volumes, 7500 pages.

His spiritual mastery, sharp intellect, and dedication to study earned him recognition as patron of studies by the Augustinian Order in 1953. As Bishop of Valencia, he led reform aligned with Catholic doctrine, anticipating Trent in some dogmatic and disciplinary areas.

Gonzalo Tejerina highlights preaching as his major theological contribution. St. Thomas emphasized boldness, sincerity, and purity in preaching, calling for holiness and doctrinal authenticity: “The preacher must possess holiness of life and authenticity of doctrine” (Conción 138, III, 571). He demanded study, prayer, fasting, chastity, humility, and temperance—true doctrine and holy life are inseparable.

He was a master of faith through preaching, devoted to teaching the people the Word of God. He likely learned the use of Sacred Scripture in the classrooms of Alcalá, which became deeply assimilated into his thought and was brought into his preaching, where he quoted it profusely. His sermons are filled with biblical references, through which he affirmed the truths he preached. Yet in his preaching, he remained faithful to the tradition of the Church and the Holy Fathers, as he sought to offer sound nourishment to his listeners.

He preached with pastoral zeal and from a deep experience of God, cultivated in prayer. He addressed many theological topics because he explained the faith. His doctrine is profound and rich in content. Moreover, he offered a theory of preaching: how it should be done and how the preacher should prepare for this ministry. He practiced what he preached.

He trusted in truth when explaining the faith because he was convinced of the rationality of the revealed mystery. The truths of faith, though beyond human understanding, are not contrary to reason but above it. There is an internal coherence between divine revelation and human reason. St. Thomas said: “I am overwhelmed with joy whenever I see such perfect harmony between the sacred texts and reason” (Sermon 232, VI, 109). Thomas strove to show the internal logic of the mystery believed.

His sermons and writings are full of theological depth and mystical anointing, penetrating and explaining the mysteries of Christ and the Virgin Mary. His words served the Gospel, grounded in Sacred Scripture and the Holy Fathers. His intellectual preparation is evident, revealing him in his sermons as one of the great masters of spirituality and theology. His erudition was the fruit of his university education in Alcalá and his dedication to study, which he always considered fundamental to the ministry of preaching.

In the theological context of his time, Thomas of Villanova preached the Catholic faith, while Luther, with his rebellion and heretical doctrines, caused a deep division in the Church that endures to this day. In 1517, the same year Luther posted his 95 theses, St. Thomas professed in the Order of St. Augustine. And in 1521, when Luther broke with the Church, Thomas, as prior of the Salamanca convent, preached a series of sermons in the cathedral on Psalm 113 (“In exitu Israel de Aegypto”), which had great impact in the city and inspired many religious vocations.

St. Thomas distanced himself from Luther and Protestantism on fundamental theological points, such as the understanding of justification and the promotion and defense of religious life, rooting it in Mary and John the Baptist. He argued against Luther’s harsh attacks on religious vows, which were discredited and violently criticized in his treatise De votis monasticis.

Doctrinally, his preaching can be compared to the Council of Trent’s teaching on justification. Disciplinarily, he anticipated the Council by founding in 1550 the Colegio Mayor de la Presentación, a seminary for priestly vocations. Concerned with priestly formation, he desired a devout, educated, and holy clergy in his diocese, formed in prayer and study. He defended clerical holiness against absenteeism and concubinage.

St. Thomas was a spiritual master, rooted in St. Augustine, who pointed out paths of perfection from prayer to contemplation. A path suitable for both laypeople and consecrated persons, offering effective itineraries for Christian life toward contemplation.

He preached with filial devotion to the Virgin, defending truths later defined as dogmas in the 19th and 20th centuries by Pius IX and Pius XII: the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary. This is a notable aspect of his preaching. Not only did he dedicate specific sermons to Marian devotion, but his entire preaching is filled with references to the Virgin, which gain doctrinal weight in the historical moment in which he preached. For St. Thomas, Mary is the forerunner of consecrated life.

His theological reflection was not limited to the intellectual realm but became an extraordinary service of charity. In his preaching, almsgiving and mercy took on theological and pastoral significance, grounded in Scripture and the Fathers. Like Vatican II would later do, St. Thomas looked back reflectively to root life and thought in Scripture and tradition. He deepened the Word of God in the light of the Fathers’ interpretation.

For Jaime García, mercy is the center and foundation of his life and theological, exegetical, and socio-political thought. He based his life, thought, and pastoral work on God’s love, mercy, and hope. Mercy is made visible in the mystery of the Incarnation. With St. Thomas begins the modern “theology of the heart.” His organization to help the poor was inspired by principles still valid today. He created a kind of social security system with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. He founded a hospital, organized clothing banks for the poor, and established homes for abandoned children. Charity toward the poor was for him an aspect of justice. He appears as a forerunner of Catholic social teaching. He helped the poor not only with alms but by promoting their human and Christian development. His teaching here is both clear and demanding.

His concept of poverty was not limited to material deprivation. In one sermon he said: “Do not think, brothers, that only those without food or clothing are poor. Is not one who lacks faith, knowledge, discernment, light, reason, or senses even poorer? Bodily misfortune is less than that of the heart, for the soul is more important than the body” (Sermon 199, 89, Complete Works, Vol. V, 150).

St. Thomas could not attend the Council of Trent due to health issues and the need to remain in a diocese abandoned by its pastors for over a century. Anticipating Trent’s decisions, he strongly defended the obligation of bishops to reside in their sees. He clearly understood this duty for the good of the faithful, justifying his request for dispensation from attending the Council. His reflection extended to episcopal duties, developing doctrine on the theology of episcopal ministry.

Though he did not attend the Council, we know he sent a memorandum through the Bishop of Huesca. Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, who wrote his doctoral thesis on St. Thomas, suspects the document may have reached Cardinal Seripando, the Augustinian president of the Council, and that Seripando may have presented the doctrine on justification—later defined by the Council—based on St. Thomas’s writing. But the content of this document is unknown and unlikely to be found.

Petitions for the Doctorate of St. Thomas of Villanova Since the Late 19th Century

At various historical moments, the cause for the Doctorate of St. Thomas of Villanova has been promoted by the Archdiocese of Valencia, the Orders of St. Augustine, the Augustinian Recollects, and the Discalced Augustinians, several female congregations linked to these orders, as well as a significant number of bishops and educational or charitable institutions.

The first attempts to promote the doctorate took place in the 1870s, with postulatory letters sent to the then Congregation of Rites. Cardinal Antolín Monescillo, Archbishop of Valencia, addressed a petition to the Holy Father on October 8, 1890, requesting the granting of the title of Doctor of the Church to St. Thomas of Villanova. The Augustinian Father Manuel Díez González, then Apostolic Commissioner of the Province in Spain, also submitted a petition. Later, Cardinal Monescillo reiterated the request, joined by the Augustinian Bishop of Salamanca, Tomás Cámara y Castro, as well as the Rector and doctors of the University of Salamanca.

A synod held in Valencia in 1951 under the presidency of Bishop Marcelino Olaechea reiterated the petition. Within the Order of St. Augustine, as previously mentioned, the General Chapter of 1953 declared St. Thomas the patron of studies in recognition of his magisterium.

Approaching the fifth centenary of the saint’s birth, the then Archbishop of Valencia, Miguel Roca Cabanellas, and the Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine, Theodore Tack, submitted a new petition in Rome. This time, the request was accompanied by a large number of postulatory letters from bishops, universities, faculties, theological institutes, religious institutes, and seminaries. Documentation was also gathered in preparation for the future Positio, which would demonstrate the saint’s eminent doctrine. All of this was compiled into a voluminous 800-page dossier, presented to the Spanish Augustinian Federation (FAE) in March 1983 and sent to Rome. The General Postulation in Rome responded to the FAE on June 21, 1983, stating that a critical edition of the saint’s works was necessary to advance the cause for the Doctorate.

The cause of St. Thomas’s doctorate has always been well received by Spanish bishops and bishops from other nations, with strong support from academic and ecclesial institutions. However, the lack of a recent, accessible edition of his works at that time appears to have been the main obstacle to progress.

Recent Efforts Following the Publication of His Complete Works

Faced with the impasse caused by the lack of a recent, publicly accessible edition of St. Thomas’s works, Augustinian Father Laureano Manrique took the initiative to prepare a bilingual edition of the saint’s complete works to make them easily accessible. He undertook the transcription of the texts, comparing various editions and producing a critical edition. For the Latin translation, he collaborated with Father Isidro Alvarez, who produced an excellent translation into high-quality Spanish. Both religious were members of the Augustinian community in Málaga and had retired from educational ministry years earlier, having long surpassed retirement age—one was around eighty, the other older. Both had been language and literature teachers in various schools. To complete the team, the Provincial requested Father José Manuel Guirau, also retired, to take charge of the critical apparatus. The work they accomplished deserves the Order’s gratitude. All three religious have passed away in recent years.

The FAE negotiated the publication of the Complete Works in the Maior format of the BAC (Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos), agreeing to finance the edition. Between 2010 and 2015, the ten volumes (eleven tomes) of this important publication were released. As a result, it became possible to resume the petition for the doctorate of St. Thomas of Villanova. The matter was presented to the Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, who suggested organizing a congress. This was held in 2018 under the title “From Justification to Charity in St. Thomas of Villanova.” The congress was the result of collaboration between the FAE, the postulators of the Augustinian orders, the Archdiocese of Valencia, the Colegio de la Presentación (founded by St. Thomas), and the Catholic University of Valencia.

Already in 2016, the Spanish Episcopal Conference, at the request of the Orders of St. Augustine, the Augustinian Recollects, and the Discalced Augustinians, along with female congregations within the FAE (Contemplative Augustinians, Missionary Augustinians, Augustinians of Amparo, and Augustinian Recollect Missionaries), submitted a petition to the Pope for St. Thomas of Villanova to be proclaimed Doctor of the Church.

As president of the FAE, I have had the opportunity to invite several episcopal conferences, parishes, and ecclesiastical and civil institutions to also submit this petition to the Pope. Likewise, efforts have been made through the General Postulations of the three Augustinian orders.

The response from the bishops has been very positive, with a significant number of episcopal conferences joining the petition and sending it to the Pope—either directly, through the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints, or through the General Postulation of the Order of St. Augustine.

The following episcopal conferences have petitioned the Pope for the doctorate of St. Thomas of Villanova (barring any omissions): Spain, Panama, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, the Philippines, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Venezuela, and the Czech Republic. The Executive Board of CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Council) has also done so.

The large number of bishops represented in these episcopal conferences suggests that their voice will be heard.

According to information from the General Postulation, the steps the dossier must follow in Rome are as follows: 

The saint’s writings are examined by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, reviewed by three theologians. This step has already been completed and, apparently, resolved positively with a favorable opinion from the theologians in the case of St. Thomas of Villanova. The plenary session of the Dicastery will examine the theologians’ reports and the petitions received. If the plenary’s opinion is positive, the next step will be to transfer the cause to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. There, the works must be re-examined by a group of theologians to assess the orthodoxy of his teachings and the eminence of his doctrine.

If this Dicastery’s judgment is also positive, as we hope, the Positio must be drafted, giving legal form to the process, describing the history of the cause and the reasons supporting the declaration of St. Thomas of Villanova as a Doctor of the Church.

The path is long and arduous. The journey we have taken with St. Thomas has a very long history, dating back to the late 19th century. But we do not give up on the effort to obtain this declaration, knowing the good the Church can receive from proclaiming St. Thomas as a master of preaching, and from the doctrinal and spiritual richness his sermons offer to the entire Christian people—today and always.

1. St. Thomas, who died in 1555, was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1618 and solemnly canonized by Pope Alexander VII in 1658.

2. Cf. J. CAMPOS Y FERNÁNDEZ DE SEVILLA, Bibliography of Saint Thomas of Villanova, at: www.javiercampos.com. Also in R. LAZCANO, Augustinian Episcopology, 3 vols., Editorial Agustiniana, Madrid 2014. The two authors who have published the most studies on St. Thomas of Villanova are J. Campos Fernández de Sevilla and A. Llin Chafer.

3. See the publication by A. ITURBE and R. TOLLO (Coords.), Saint Thomas of Villanova. Worship, History, and Art, San Lorenzo del Escorial (Madrid)–Tolentino (Italy), 2013, 2 vols. They catalog nearly a thousand works of art dedicated to St. Thomas of Villanova.

4. ST. THOMAS OF VILLANOVA, Complete Works, 10 vols., 11 tomes, Madrid, BAC, 2010–2015.

5. Cf. L. ÁLVAREZ GUTIÉRREZ, “Saint Thomas of Villanova, Mentor, Promoter, and Patron of Studies in the [Augustinian] Order,” in Saint Thomas of Villanova. 450th Anniversary of His Death, Madrid 2005.

6. TEJERINA, “Saint Thomas of Villanova, Preacher and Master of Preaching,” in La Ciudad de Dios – Revista Agustiniana (Guadarrama, Madrid), 233 / 1 (2020), pp. 55–74.

7. Cf. M.A. ORCASITAS, “Religious Life in the Writings of Saint Thomas of Villanova,” in: Cuadernos de Investigación Histórica, no. 35, Fundación Universitaria Española, Madrid 2018, pp. 59–110.

8. Cf. the study by G. TEJERINA, “The Doctrine of Justification in Saint Thomas of Villanova and Its Relationship with the Teaching of Trent,” in Cuadernos de Investigación Histórica, no. 35, Fundación Universitaria Española, Madrid 2018, pp. 111–136.

9. Cf. J.M. LEONET ZABALA, The Figure of Mary in Saint Thomas of Villanova, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 2020.

10. Cf. J. GARCÍA ÁLVAREZ, Saint Thomas of Villanova. Mercy Made Life and Thought, Guadarrama, Ed. Agustiniana, 2016.

11. At that time, the last available edition of the saint’s Complete Works had been published in its original Latin by the Province of the Philippines, OSA, in Manila, between 1881 and 1897. It was prepared by Fathers Ubierna, Martín, Monasterio, and others, and comprised six folio-format volumes. It was the most complete edition produced up to that point and represented a major editorial project.