Thomas Aquinas

In his foundational work, the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that aevum (or aeviternity) is a distinct mode of duration that acts as a metaphysical middle ground between God’s absolute eternity and earthly time. According to Aquinas the type of duration a being experiences is tied directly to its nature and how much it is subject to change. He breaks duration down into three distinct tiers. 

• Eternity (God): Belongs to God alone. It has no beginning, no end, and absolutely no change or succession. It is a single, permanent "Eternal Now."
• Time (Material Creation): The measure of constant, sequential change. It has a beginning, an end, a past, a present, and a future. It governs material things that are fundamentally corruptible and dynamic.
• Aevum (Spiritual Creation): The measure of beings that have an unchangeable nature but are capable of certain accidental changes. It has a distinct beginning (when God created them) but no end.

Who or What Exists in Aevum?

According to Aquinas, aevum primarily measures the duration of angels, demons, and human souls in the afterlife (the saints and the blessed). In medieval cosmology, he also included the heavenly bodies (planets and stars), which were thought to be physically incorruptible even though they changed location.

How Does Aevum Work?

Aquinas highlights the specific metaphysical properties of aevum in Summa Theologiae (Prima Pars, Question 10):

• No Substantial Change: Beings in aevum do not age, decay, or experience a change in their fundamental essence. An angel's nature is fixed and permanently sustained by God.
• Accidental Change ("Before" and "After"): While their being does not change, their actions can. Angels can choose to love or turn away from God, they can learn new things, think new thoughts, or move from place to place. Because these thoughts and choices happen in a sequence, aevum allows for a type of "before" and "after," but without the continuous flow of standard physical time.
• There is Only One Aevum: Just as there is one universal timeline for our physical universe, Aquinas argued that there is only one shared aeviternity that measures all spiritual creatures, even though they were created at different moments.

In short, Aquinas taught that aevum is how created, immortal spirits experience duration—they are constant enough to mirror God's eternity, but limited and dynamic enough to still be distinct from Him.

What is the Theological Status of Aevum?

• Classification: It is generally classified as a sententia communis (common theological opinion) or a highly probable theological explanation. While it is widely accepted by Scholastic philosophers and traditional theologians, it has never been solemnly defined by a Pope or an Ecumenical Council as an article of faith.
• Philosophical Framework: The aevum is a metaphysical tool used by Aquinas and other Schoolmen (like Albertus Magnus) to logically bridge the gap between time and eternity.

What is De Fide regarding this topic?

While the precise mechanics of aevum are open to theological discussion, the foundational concepts that Aquinas was trying to protect are defined Catholic dogmas:

1. God alone is completely eternal: Creator of all things, existing always, without beginning or end (de fide, from the Fourth Lateran Council).
2. Angels and human souls are immortal: Spiritual creatures are created by God but will never cease to exist (de fide, from the Fifth Lateran Council).

You are entirely free to disagree with Aquinas's concept of aevum—for instance, by arguing that angels simply exist in a different dimension of standard "time"—without contradicting Catholic dogma.

Thomas Aquinas was undoubtedly the greatest of the medieval scholars, and The Summa was undoubtedly his greatest work. But it was never finished, and he refused to finish it, after he received a private revelation while celebrating Mass on December 6th 1273. He never elaborated on that experience, and he never wrote again. All he said was that all he had written now seemed like "straw."

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Why "straw"?

He was undoubtedly thinking of what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians here.

According to the grace of God that is given to me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid; which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: Every man's work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (Douay Rheims Translation.)

So if the greatest scholar of the Scholastic era saw his greatest work as a work of "straw," what does that say about scholasticism?