Studying and suffering divine things: St. Thomas Aquinas on Hierotheus

ABSTRACT The mysterious figure of Hierotheus—purportedly the teacher of the equally mysterious St. Denys the Areopagite—appears in the very first question of the Summa Theologiae. There St. Thomas Aquinas invokes him as an example of someone who has experienced or ‘suffered' divine things and who can therefore judge by a higher wisdom than can the ordinary student of sacra doctrina. Drawing deeply on St. Thomas' Divine Names commentary, this paper considers St. Thomas' presentation of Hierotheus as both theologian and spiritual teacher. It looks especially to what, on Thomas' view, Hierotheus can teach about the relationship between theology and mysticism, between the wisdom of learning and the wisdom of charity, between studying and suffering the things of God. The central argument of this paper is that, in St. Thomas’ overall thought, the great mystic Hierotheus is not intended as a contrast to theologians but as a model for theologians.