NEWBURGH – Mount Saint Mary College will continue its semester-long celebration of the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Thomas Aquinas, an influential philosopher and Dominican priest, with a free, public lecture titled “Adoro Te Devote: St. Thomas Aquinas on the Eucharist” on Thursday, April 10 at 4 p.m.

The event will take place in the Mount’s Kaplan Family Library and Learning Center, room 218. The talk will be given by Robert Miller, associate professor of Theology and Religious Studies.

St. Thomas Aquinas OP, a 13^th-century Dominican friar, priest, and patron saint of colleges and scholars, made innumerable contributions to theology and philosophy over the course of his five decades on this Earth. He embraced Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Averroes, fusing their ideas with the principles of Christianity. He created a school of thought that encompasses both theology and philosophy, now known as Thomism.

At the Mount, the title of “Aquinas Scholar” is awarded to junior or senior students who excel in academics. The college’s main academic building, Aquinas Hall, is named after the theologian. Even the college’s motto, Doce Me Veritatem (which translates to “Teach Me Truth”), was inspired by St. Thomas Aquinas.

Miller is a Senior Fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and a board member of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary – USA. Before coming to the Mount, he taught both graduate and undergraduate classes in scripture and theology at Caldwell College and Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology at Seton Hall University.

His research spans a wide area of theology and biblical studies, including biblical theology and typology, John’s Gospel, and Mariology. Miller is also active in his parish, coordinating the RCIA process and offering other adult enrichment opportunities.

The talk, sponsored by the Mount’s Catholic and Dominican Institute (CDI), is the third of four to be held this semester in honor of the intellectual tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. The final talk in the series will be offered by John Hofbauer, associate professor of Philosophy, in the near future.

CDI promotes the Mount’s heritage of St. Dominic, advances the Dominican charism of study and service, provides a forum for discussion of contemporary ethical issues, and enhances Catholic and Jewish dialogue.

For more information, visit www.msmc.edu.