We were happy to welcome Fr. Raphael Mary Salzillo, O.P. to our monastery last week. Father is a Dominican friar belonging to the Western Province (or Holy Name Province) but has been teaching at the University of St. Thomas in Houston for the past four years. We’ve been trying to get him to come for a while, but COVID kept getting in the way.
He gave a fascinating series of classes on Form of the Person and Soul in St. Thomas Aquinas–intense stuff, but Father made it fun with his silly examples (like “Sammy the Squirrel”). We all learned a lot and enjoyed his presentation and style immensely.
Father illustrates the concept of form in Thomas Aquinas using an orange
Father listening intently to one of the many questions we posed to him
Father Raphael Mary also led a small discussion group on the book The Women Are Up To Something, an intriguing study of four women philosophers at Oxford around the time of the second World War: Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgely, Phillipa Foot, and Iris Murdoch. Those who participated enjoyed it very much!
For his last session, Father explained his work with Courage International and Eden Invitation, and asked out prayers for these two groups. We didn’t know too much about these ministries, so we were glad to know about them and will keep their intentions in our prayers.
Thank you so much, Father Raphael Mary, for a fun and educational time! We wish you well in your new assignment in California, and hope we will meet up with you again some day!
Dominican Life on Lotus Lane 