REGINALD of Piperno. - Dominican theologian, born in Piperno (Frosinone), died in Anagni in 1290. A religious in Naples, he studied in Rome, where he met St. Thomas (1259) and formed an intimate friendship with him. From that moment, he was not only the Aquinate’s amanuensis, but also his confidant, confessor, and dearest friend.
He accompanied the Angelic Doctor on all his travels: to Orvieto (1261–65), Rome (1265–67), Viterbo (1267–68), Paris (1269–72), Naples (1272–74), and then to Fossanova, where he delivered a moving funeral oration. The Saint dedicated several works to him (Ad fratrem Reginaldum, socium suum carissimum) and bequeathed his own writings to him. Reginald was likely the Aquinate’s successor in the chair of theology at the Studium of Naples. He was not only a material heir but also an intellectual one: with the notes he took in class and those left by the Author, he completed the Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, the Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, and the Commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima, all left unfinished by the Angelic Doctor. He is also the author of the Supplement to the third part of the Summa Theologiae.