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Secondary sourcePainting1632

Temptation of St. Thomas

Diego Velázquez · 1632

A Velázquez painting showing the legendary episode in which angels gird the young Thomas Aquinas with a sash of chastity after he resists temptation.

This painting depicts a legendary moment from Aquinas's youth, used in accounts supporting his canonization.

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Painting of a dark-robed friar with a shaved crown, eyes closed, embraced from behind by a golden-robed angel. A pink-robed winged angel holds a white sash at left. A woman appears in an open doorway at upper left. A stone fireplace is at right, with books and an inkwell on a table at lower right.
Diego Velázquez, Temptation of St. Thomas, 1632. Orihuela Cathedral.

About this source

What it is

Painted in 1632 by the Spanish Baroque artist Diego Velázquez, this work hangs in the Museum of Sacred Art of Orihuela Cathedral. It shows a dark-robed friar with closed eyes being held by a golden-robed angel, while another angel prepares a white sash; a woman stands in a doorway in the background.

Why it matters

The scene comes from accounts used in his canonization, telling how, as a young novice, Thomas Aquinas drove away a woman sent to tempt him, after which angels are said to have girded him with a symbolic sash of chastity. The painting reflects how stories about his virtue, not just his scholarship, shaped his image centuries after his death. For years the painting was mistakenly attributed to another artist before being recognized as Velázquez's work.

Look closer

  • Why would a painter choose to depict a legend about temptation rather than a scene of study or teaching?
  • What do the angels, the sash, and the woman in the doorway each represent in the story?
  • How does this image differ from paintings that show Aquinas only as a scholar with a book?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Thomas Aquinas on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of a 1596 Venice edition printed by Iuntas, with Latin text announcing two indexes to the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, and a central ornate oval emblem with a fleur-de-lis and the letters L and A.Book

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Thomas Aquinas · 1274

Oil painting of a bearded monk in a dark black habit, seated at a desk with an open book and a stack of books, gazing upward. A crucifix with a figure of Christ hangs at upper right against a dark background.Painting

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St Thomas Aquinas, 17th-century Italian oil painting

17th century

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Primary source

Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium

Thomas Aquinas · 1263

Engraving of a haloed saint kneeling at left, hand raised in refusal, facing a seated pope wearing a tiara and holding a crosier, with mitred bishops and a canopy behind. Latin caption text below.Painting

Secondary source

Thomas Aquinas Refuses the Archbishopric of Naples

1610

Painted altarpiece panel with a gold background. Christ is enthroned at the top within a pointed arch. Below, four evangelist-like figures hold open books. A central monk in black habit holds an open book inscribed with text, surrounded by a dark circle with golden rays. Figures in red and black robes flank him, and a crowd of people with halos and a kneeling figure appear at the bottom.Painting

Secondary source

Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Lippo Memmi · 1340

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