The Angelicum's statue of Aquinas is Aureli's second version of this work. The first version of 1889 looms majestically over the "Sala di Consultazione" or main reference room of the Vatican Library. At the instigation of the Pontifical Roman Seminary the Vatican version of the statue was commissioned in the name of all seminaries of the world as a gift to Pope Leo XIII in celebration of his episcopal jubilee in 1893. The statue has been described in the following terms:St. Thomas seated, in his left arm holds the "Summa theologica" while extending his right arm in the act of protecting Christian science. Thus, he does not sit on the cathedra of a doctor but on the throne of a sovereign protector; he extends his arm to reassure, not to demonstrate. He wears on his head the doctoral "birettum" of the traditional type which reveals the face and expression of a profoundly educated person... The immortal book that he clutches, the powerful arm that extends to affirm sacred science and to halt the audacity of error, are truly grand, and in the words of Leo XIII, have equaled the genius of all other great teachers.