Thomas of Hereford’s miracles – between Aquinas and Augustine

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper considers the conceptual background of an anonymous curialist document discussing Thomas of Hereford’s miracles. The document offers a unique insight into the internal deliberations of the Holy See that preceded canonisation. Intriguingly though, the document displays a conceptual tension and even inconsistency. Passages adopting a stern, critical, empirically-minded evaluation of miracles alternate with passages in which miracles are almost accepted uncritically. Explanations for this inconsistency have appealed to historical contingencies and more generally to credulity and scepticism attributed to the higher clergy vis-à-vis the wonders produced by prospective saints. This paper suggests another explanation, which looks at the level of the models of authority at work in the document. The tension in the manuscript reflects a corresponding conceptual tension between the traditional account of miracles – influenced by Augustine and having the wondrous dimension of miracles at its core – and the emerging Scholastic account, influenced by Aristotle, and propounding criteria to differentiate the supernatural dimension of wonders from natural phenomena.