The Historical Institute of the Order of Preachers is pleased to announce the recent publication of
the volume Du saint dominicain au docteur commun : Thomas d’Aquin et ses représentations,
published in the Dissertationes Historicae series.
The volume, edited by the art historians Émilie Roffidal and Claire Rousseau, is dedicated to the
iconography of St. Thomas Aquinas –an important figure in the history of the Order, the Church
and intellectual history– on the occasion of his triple jubilee: 700 years since his canonisation,
750 years since his death and 800 years since his birth, celebrated from 28 January 2023 to 28
January 2025. Nine contributions by various authors deal with the beginnings and spread of the
iconography of St. Thomas and the historical-spiritual context in which such representations
were disseminated.
Quoting the author of the introduction, Christian Heck, the book represents “a profoundly new
contribution to our knowledge of the iconography of Thomas Aquinas, in a geographical area
extending as far as the New World and in a completely open chronological framework, from the
years immediately following the saint’s death to the middle of the 20th century. Art history here
brilliantly confirms how much the analysis of figurative representations enriches cultural history
and history in general.”
The volume was published by Viella and can be ordered from the publisher (ordini@viella.it).
With this volume, the Historical Institute of the Order of Preachers and the Viella publishing
house inaugurate their collaboration and can already announce the forthcoming publication of the
volume Domenico di Caleruega, his Order and his memory from Bologna to the West, edited by
Viliam Štefan Dóci OP and Riccardo Parmeggiani (vol. 43 of the Dissertationes Historicae).
After an interruption due to the closure of the publishing house with which the Institute had
collaborated in the past, the publication of the journal Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum and the
bibliographical Dominican History Newsletter will also resume.
