51

The modern category of “Fathers” has no exact equivalent in the thought of Thomas. His relationship to authors publicly recognized by the Tradition, the Sancti, falls within the Tradition’s highly unified conception of divine truths, the Doctrina sacra. Recovering this unbroken perspective allows for understanding that the reverential commentary is not in Thomas a technique permitting the modification of the meaning of “authorities”, but rather a general attitude of respect regarding the “Saints” which finds a particularly strong application in the case of authorized texts presenting difficulties.