Canonization of Thomas Aquinas

Following two inquiries which involved over a hundred eyewitnesses, the Italian Dominican theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) was formally canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on 18 July 1323 by Pope John XXII. His corpse was boiled and his remains were distributed as relics, the ownership of which was contested for decades. In 1324, he became the second most important saint in the Dominican Order, after Saint Dominic himself. In 1969, the feast day of Saint Thomas Aquinas was moved from 7 March to 28 January.