Seven hundred saints, each one an object rather than an article: the feast day as a date, the patronages as a list, the iconography and attributes as their own arrays, the life as markdown. Which means you can ask for the patron of students, or everyone whose feast falls in January, or what a figure is depicted holding — none of which is answerable from an encyclopedia page without reading it first.
The request
curl "https://api.torchandlily.com/v1/devotio/saints/slug/st-thomas-aquinas" \
-H "X-API-Key: tl_your_key_here"Every read endpoint takes the same header. Keys are free.
The response
{
"name": "St. Thomas Aquinas",
"slug": "st-thomas-aquinas",
"title": "The Angelic Doctor",
"ranks": [
"Saint",
"Doctor of the Church",
"Priest",
"Religious",
"Confessor"
],
"feast_day": "January 28",
"born_year": 1225,
"born_text": "c. 1225",
"died_year": 1274,
"died_text": null,
"canonization_year": 1323,
"patronage": [
"Students",
"Theologians",
"Philosophers",
"Catholic Universities",
"Schools",
"Booksellers",
"Pencil Makers"
],
"iconography": [
"Sun on his breast",
"Dove at his ear representing the Holy Spirit",
"Holding a monstrance or ciborium",
"Girded with a white cord"
],
"attributes": [
"Star on his chest",
"Book and pen",
"Dove",
"Monstrance"
],
"quotes": [
"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is..."
],
"bio_markdown": "Born to the noble family of the Counts of Aquino at Rocca Secca, St. Thomas Aquinas began his education at the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino at the tender age of five. His early piety and intelle...",
"id": 683,
"published": true,
"liturgia_rank": null,
"created_at": "2026-04-15T19:53:26.596103+00:00",
"updated_at": "2026-04-15T19:53:26.596103+00:00",
"relationships": [
{
"target_id": null,
"target_name": "Pope Innocent IV",
"target_type": "IGNOTUS",
"relationship_type": "Superior"
},
{
"target_id": 476,
"target_name": "St. Louis IX",
"target_type": "SANCTUS",
"relationship_type": "Friend"
}
],
"citations": []
}Abridged for display — the live response carries every field in full.
The same response, set as a reader reads it
Feast — January 28
St. Thomas Aquinas
The Angelic Doctor
c. 1225 — 1274
Born to the noble family of the Counts of Aquino at Rocca Secca, St. Thomas Aquinas began his education at the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino at the tender age of five. His early piety and intellectual curiosity were evident even then, as he famously asked his preceptors, "What is God?" He later continued his studies at the University of Naples, where he first encountered the works of Aristotle and the Order of Friars Preachers. Despite the fierce opposition of his noble family, who went so far as to kidnap and...
- Patronage
- Students · Theologians · Philosophers · Catholic Universities · Schools · Booksellers · Pencil Makers
- Iconography
- Sun on his breast · Dove at his ear representing the Holy Spirit · Holding a monstrance or ciborium · Girded with a white cord
- Ranks
- Saint · Doctor of the Church · Priest · Religious · Confessor
- Canonised
- 1323
Build on it
The archive is public domain and the API is free to read. Sign in with Google or GitHub, mint a key, and make the call above yourself.
Responses captured 4 September 2026 · All examples