ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, c. 1225–1274 At the end of 1224 or the beginning of 1225 Thomas was born at Roccasecca, near Naples, in the ancestral castle of the counts of Aquino. He was the seventh and youngest son of Landulfo, the head of one of the most illustrious families of Southern Italy and nephew to Frederick Barbarossa. His mother, Countess Teodora Carracciolo, was a descendent of the Normans who wrested Sicily from the Saracens. Landulfo and his sons were closely involved in the