Summa this and Summa that

 Last week I attended a conference presented by the Acton Institute in Rome on Faith, the State, and Economics, with perspectives from the East and West.  The first speaker, a priest, gave a European perspective, coming from Switzerland, discussed the advantages of limited government.  The next, a bishop, spoke from a Mid-eastern perspective, discussing the state of religious and economic freedoms in Jordan, Israel, and Arab countries across North Africa and the Mideast.  The third, a layman from Australia, spoke about America, Europe, and China and the connection between religious and economic freedom.  Finally, Cardinal Zen spoke of the "Paradox" of China, where economic freedom and religious repression are ruthlessly pursued for the preservation of Communist power.  Very enlightening indeed, and thought and prayer provoking.

But, now for something completely different. 
As I walked home from the conference, thinking about what had been said, I felt peckish and uninterested in cooking.  So I stopped in a pizzeria I had noticed on my way home (though never entered) before, offering fresh bread also twice a week.  Two ladies behind the counter served someone in front of me while I studied the pizzas, of which most were normal looking and one looked like a round loaf of leavened bread with toppings spread throughout, and not just on top.  When one lady asked if she could help me, I told her that first I had a question (about the funny-looking pizza), and the other woman behind the counter told me that I could only ask a question that wouldn't be too difficult to answer.  So, I responded, "You mean, I can't ask about the meaning of life?"  And she, without hesitation, looked at me and said that for her, life means the ever-present possibility of starting over.  I was impressed, and exclaimed, "Ah! You're a philosopher!" To which she responded that she wasn't, but that she was Neapolitan (from Naples) which amounts to the same thing.  Then she explained that because generally the Neapolitans are oppressed, they must philosophize.  Oh, so, that explains St. Thomas Aquinas, because, after all, he was born very near Naples, in the Kingdom of Naples (or the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, as it was also called).  She was surprised and edified by the honor of such a renowned, as she called him, philosopher from her corner of the world.  The other lady behind the counter, who explained the pizza to me, told me she was the older woman's daughter, and confessed to have been born in Rome, however, and not Naples.  The daughter then asked what I do in Rome, and her mother answered that she thought I was a student.  I showed them backpack which is my near constant companion, and when the daughter asked what I studied, again her mother replied, saying I surely study philosophy, and probably St. Thomas Aquinas.  Surely enough, I belong to the Fundamental-Thomistic section of the philosophy department at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (known generally as the Angelicum).  What's more, since February, I have a new apartment on the Via St. Thomas Aquinas.  Both mother and daughter got a good laugh at that, and asked me what it is St. Thomas wants from me, and joked that I would marry someone named Thomas.  I enjoyed chatting with them while I tried the deep dish Apulian style pizza, and the mother explained that she had three daughters, all as counter-cultural as she is, and how they feel that it is important to live life, and not to spend lots of time on the internet or to join social networks, or to have the latest cell phone technology. 
The next day, on my way home from school, I saw the same pizzeria open, and decided to stop in to tell the mother that I had forgotten to mention that it was indeed in Naples where St. Thomas first studied philosophy, and where he last taught just before he died.  She wasn't there.  Instead, another young lady appeared behind the counter, looking almost as if she recognized me.  She told me her mother wasn't in the store that day, but had her sister come to the counter as they explained they were the other two daughters and I must be St. Thomas' girlfriend, of whom their mother had spoken the night before.  And they promised to relay the message to their mother. 
Philosophy is everywhere.