The Purpose of the Mind: Pursuit of Highest Wisdom
By Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.
The motto of the Dominican Order is Veritas: Truth. We are consecrated in the Truth—in the splendor of Truth, by our profession—above all, we are consecrated in Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, who is Truth in person.
Since the 13th century, the Dominican Order has held up St. Thomas Aquinas as its greatest teacher, and we at the Dominican House revere him as our master—not simply out of party spirit because he was a Dominican, but above all because of the depth of his wisdom and the clarity of his teaching.
I think it’s fair to say that he’s classed, and rightly classed, as one of the greatest figures in the Christian intellectual tradition. In his writings and in his life, the splendor of truth shines forth.
Yet Aquinas is brilliant and original—not so much in the individual points that he makes. In fact, if you read him carefully, you discover that quite often he relies heavily on his predecessors, on the great tradition in which he stands.
Rather, in my view, Aquinas’s greatness consists especially in the breadth and power of his synthesis, which aims at understanding the whole—that is, it aims at wisdom.
But it is also true, if you read his works and get to know his life, that, for him, the search for wisdom involved a great deal of focused and intense effort.
At the same time, he never thought of this as a merely academic project or a scholarly exercise. Rather, the search for wisdom was a central and organizing theme for his life as a whole.
Aquinas knew that this search required much of him, but that in the end, wisdom is a gift from above, a gift from God, a gift of grace, and a gift that calls for a whole way of life.
Our Dominican constitutions affirm that, by our study, we are drawn into the contemplative life as we ponder the wisdom of God. Sacred study also equips us for the doctrinal service of the Church, so that we can proclaim the Gospel to the world.
In his many works, he exhorts his students to pursue this highest wisdom, with all of their strength and with every resource of their minds. That is, he exhorts us today, he exhorts you: pursue the wisdom of God, make it your most precious treasure, let it guide every action of your life. Or, to put it another way, seek above all to know and to love God who is eternal Wisdom.
St. Thomas Aquinas would tell you that this is the mind’s very purpose. It is why God made you. And it is the true goal of any intellectual life—and, rightly understood, of the Christian life itself.
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On October 3, 2025, Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., was installed as President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. This is an excerpt from his installation address.
