RÉGINALDO da PIPERNO. - Dominican theologian, born at Piperno (Frosinone), died at Anagni in 1290. A religious at Naples, he studied at Rome, where he met St Thomas (1259), with whom he formed an intimate friendship. From that time he was not only the copyist, but also the confidant, confessor, and dearest friend of the holy Doctor.
He accompanied the Aquinate on all his journeys: to Orvieto (1261–65), Rome (1265–67), Viterbo (1267–68),
to Paris (1269–72), Naples (1272–74), and then to Fossanova, where he movingly delivered his funeral eulogy. The Saint dedicated various books to him (Ad fratrem Reginaldum, socium suum carissimum) and bequeathed his works to him. R. was probably also the successor of the Aquinate in the chair of theology at the Studium of Naples. Heir not only materially but also intellectually to the great master, with notes taken in class and with those left by the Author he completed the Commentary on the Gospel of St John, on the Epistles of St Paul, and on Aristotle’s De Anima, left unfinished by the Angelic Doctor. He is also the author of the Supplementum to the third part of the Summa Theologiae.