St. Thomas Aquinas is renowned as one of the most brilliant minds of the Catholic Church. While he is known chiefly for his writings on doctrine, Thomas Aquinas was canonized not for his work, but for his holiness. His love for God was his priority, even above his intelligence - as the following incident shows.

On one occasion, Thomas was selected to do the refectory reading (reading aloud while the community was eating their meal). In the midst of the reading, Thomas was interrupted at one point and received a correction on the way had just pronounced a word. Thomas knew that the rebuke was incorrect, and that he himself had said the word properly. With all his intelligence and study, Thomas would know more about words than most! Yet he simply repeated the word as suggested - as if the incorrect pronunciation was actually right - and went on with the rest of the reading.

Thomas was not the only one who knew he’d said it right the first time. Not long after the incident, one of the other brethren approached Thomas, asking why he had done what he did.

Thomas replied simply, "It matters little whether we pronounce a word long or short. But it matters very much to be humble and obedient."