Page "Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas" Paragraph 1

The Angelicum has its roots in the mission of the Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans, to study and to teach truth.

This mission is reflected in one of the Order's mottos veritas.

More particularly the Angelicum's origin can be traced to the founding of the first Dominican studium conventuale in Rome at the basilica of Santa Sabina in the year 1222, where " sacred studies flourished ".

The distinctively pedagogical character of the Dominican apostolate as intended by Saint Dominic de Guzman at the birth of the Order in 1214, which would soon become " the first order instituted by the Church with an academic mission ," is succinctly expressed by another of the Order's mottos, contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere, ( to contemplate and to bear the fruits of contemplation to others ), a paraphrase of Thomas Aquinas ' teaching on the perfection of the Dominican charism.