In today’s world it can be very confusing to figure out exactly what it is we’re supposed to do as leaders.  Many people will have many opinions.  Leaders bringing concord, leaders charging from the front, leaders supporting all with compassion.  St. Thomas Aquinas actually has a very clear vision for leaders.  He calls it unity.  But what exactly does he mean?

We all know that leaders have authority and that that authority has an impact on those that they lead.  But the question is, “How does that leader make that authority felt with strength while at the same time effectively build up the people that are under him with gentleness?”  In his work, De Regno, written to the King of Cyprus, St. Thomas Aquinas offers a valuable lesson on this subject.

The work of St. Thomas Aquinas remains at the center of Catholic tradition.  In his many writings Thomas treats of leadership in many different ways.  But nowhere is his treatment as concise or condensed as in his letter to the King of Cyprus in his book De Regno.  I’d like to continue lessons that I’ve given on this book about leadership.  This is lesson number two on Leaders of the Common Good.

St. Thomas Aquinas is one of the greatest minds in the history of the world.  He wrote about authority and leadership in many different ways and in many places.  Today, I’d like to begin a series studying his thoughts on leadership and the impact that that can make directly on our modern-day leaders.  Join me on this exciting adventure as we begin a ten part series on the leadership lessons of Aquinas.

Leaders lead in their own way.  Saints are the same.  Although most of us have preconceptions about Saints, describing them in terms of prayer and piety, Pier Giorgio Frassati shows us a different look.  He was full of life, energy, and activism.  He was a courageous leader for his age, his peers, and for us today.

I’d like to tell you of St. Margaret Clitherow, the patron saint of Catholic businesswomen and entrepreneurs.  This incredible woman left a legacy of courage as she gave up her life harboring priests and inspired her children to dedicating their lives to God as well.  Listen in to this amazing tale of leadership from the inside.

When most people speak about leadership today, they mean it in the context of business.  And there are ample examples of great leadership in the world of business, and ample examples of Catholics who have typified that same leadership in the world of business.  But I’d like to focus us today on the reflection of a great Saint who was not a business leader but in fact the Pope, Pope St. John Paul II, and see how his life teaches us about Catholic leadership.

Today, leadership requires courage.  In times like ours it’s easier to stop rather than to keep going.  But what’s the secret to courage?  In the lives of the saints we find many examples of courageous leadership.  But in the life of St. Stanislaus, Bishop of Krakow, there is a special lesson that speaks to each one of us: the strength of consistent integrity.

I think that most of us feel that when you do something heroic you should be recognized for it.  Almost like, “Good heroes usually win.”  In the story of St. John Bosco, however, this was not the case.  He had to defend himself, work hard, be under appreciated, and make his case boldly in a situation where people did not believe in him, or make it easy for him.  His is a story of true heroism.

Courageous leadership requires courageous leaders.  And that’s what we find in the lives of many Saints, but few saints excel in the areas of zeal and apostolic labors like Saint Junipero Serra.  I’d like to look at his life in particular because it reminds us of the urgency to both spread the Gospel and the willingness to lay down our lives in order to make this happen.  Obviously this is something that we can apply to all the calls of God in our lives.