My dad called last night to say that he was reading a biography of Thomas Aquinas and he was convinced that my theory was correct - Aquinas had Asperger's Syndrome.
A few years ago, when I preparing to teach political theory for the first time, I did a little reading about Aquinas. I was using his discussion on natural law in class, and I needed to provide some context for the students. Aquinas was nicknamed the Dumb Ox, because he was a slow lumbering man who was slow to talk. He had incredible powers of concentration and memory. He was socially awkward. He would go into trances of thought and completely forget that other people were in the room. He was so unusual that there are actually lots of accounts of his social deficits and his superior concentration and memory.
From time to time, I wonder what happened to autistic people in the past, before there was Silicon Valley to provide them with gainful employment. Truly exceptional autistic people like Aquinas probably always found work, like they do today, at universities or academies. They designed cathedrals and pyramids.
Severely affected autistics died. They starved to death or were consigned to bleak institutions where they died of consumption or something.
The mid-level autistic could have found shelter in monasteries where they would have the patience to carefully transcribe bibles and produce illuminated manuscripts. Who else but an autistic person would have the concentration for such a repetitive, boring task? Who else but a person with poor verbal and social skills would willingly take on vows of silence and abstinence?
In recent years, there's been a lot of discussions about the Catholic church as a haven for men repressing their homosexuality. Monastic life must have certain be a haven for autistics, as well.