Thomas Aquinas
Italian · 1225–1274
Thomas Aquinas was a 13th-century Dominican friar, theologian, and philosopher, and the most influential figure in scholastic thought. His monumental Summa Theologica attempted to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Christian doctrine, and remains foundational for Catholic theology. Among his many side projects was a brief treatment of beauty as requiring three things — integritas (wholeness), consonantia (harmony), and claritas (radiance) — a formulation later picked up and elaborated by James Joyce in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.