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, was born in about 1225 in the castle of Roccasecca, near Naples. Before his birth a holy hermit foretold Thomas’s career, saying to his mother: "He will enter the Order of Friars Preachers, and so great will be his learning and sanctity that in his day no one ....

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.... an order of mendicant preaching friars. Thomas decided to join the order, even though his family opposed the idea. His brothers captured him and imprisoned him at Roccasecca. There he was imprisoned for nearly two years. His parents, brothers, and sisters attempted to force him to change his mind, they threatened him and forced temptations on him, but he eventually escaped and joined the Dominicans. The Dominicans then sent Thomas to Cologne to study with Albertus Magnus, the smartest man of the time. In 1252 Thomas was in Paris composing 'Commentaries on the Books of Sentences of Peter the Lombard'. He was later admitted as master of the ....