The Ideal Bishop

St. Thomas Aquinas’s commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles are distinctive and overlooked theological resources. These commentaries provide invaluable insights into the exigencies of the exercise of the episcopal office in bringing about the spiritual perfection of the faithful in Christ. The Ideal Bishop includes a review of the theology of the episcopacy found in St. Thomas’s principal contemporaries including Peter Lombard, St. Albert the Great, and St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. It also provides a conspectus of the same in the integrated corpus of Aquinas along with an introduction to St. Thomas’s lectures on the PE, their dating, the provenance of manuscripts, and their method of theological development. But the heart of this book is an examination of the theology and spirituality of the episcopacy found in the lectures on ­ Timothy, ’ Timothy, and Titus. Particular attention is devoted to Aquinas’s treatment of the nature, purpose, requisite virtues, disqualifying vices, special duties, and particular graces of the episcopal office.

In his commentary, Aquinas identifies the episcopacy as a state of perfection wherein the prelate ought both to enjoy profound, mystical intimacy with Christ and to love and serve others by leading them to that same intimacy. In so doing, the prelate promotes ecclesial unity and secures his own salvation. Episcopal teaching, governing, and liturgical duties constitute the bishop’s fundamental mission which is established and empowered by the act of episcopal consecration received by the bishop elect. Aquinas grounds the efficacy of the bishop’s pastoral work on the quality of his interior life. Thus construed the episcopal office demands profound holiness, erudition, and pastoral skill. This work of Thomistic ressourcement substantively benefits the contemporary Church in her project of bringing the perennial truth of the Gospel more efficaciously to all, particularly with respect to the exercise of the episcopal office.