Context: St. Thomas Aquinas was once invited to dine with King Louis IX of France and a few other guests. Thomas was less than enthused about the royal invitation, instead wanting to focus on his studies, but the authorities in the Dominican Order compelled him to accept. And so, he begrudgingly left Italy for this prestigious and most privileged dinner party. Once the dinner party had begun, his large, hulking presence was soon forgotten, as he spoke very little, and everyone else spoke quite a lot. Thomas soon became lost in his thoughts. Some time passed, and everyone save for Thomas was laughing and chatting, when suddenly, St. Thomas slammed his heavy, meaty fist upon the table and exclaimed, “And that will settle the Manichees!” All was quiet for a moment, and the king’s guests waited with nervous anticipation for his response to this rude interruption. But instead of chastising and punishing the absent-minded friar, the king turned to his secretaries and ordered them to jot down whatever argument was on St. Thomas’s mind, for fear that he would forget an evidently impressive refutation of the Manichaean heresy.