The Summa Theologica is the best known literary work of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic Dominican Friar, who is widely considered one of the greatest theologians of all time in the Catholic Church, though his nickname was the dumb ox. In fact, many Protestant Christian religious denominations also recognize his theological contributions. St. Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of students, and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish (STA), which has a history on the University of Virginia campus that began in 1943. The Dominican Friars of St. Joseph Province came to staff STA approximately 20 years later in 1963. The current facility was opened in 2004.
CACHE IS NOT AT THE PUBLISHED STARTING COORDINATES
This cache will give you a fun walking tour of the outside grounds of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church parish on your way to the final cache. You do NOT have to enter any building, and should not unless you have church related business. PLEASE DO NOT ASK STAFF FOR HELP AS THEY CAN NOT HELP YOU! At each of the waypoints there will be a QUESTION TO ANSWER where you need to write down a missing number to help solve for the final coordinates. When you find all of the missing numbers, fill in the coordinates at the end of this description to find the final cache.
Hitting all of the waypoints and walking back to your car should only be a few hundred feet, but does involve a few sets of stairs. You do not need to go to all of the waypoints in sequential order, but it is recommended to search for them in the order given.
The coordinates for the listing will start you at the center of the outdoor courtyard. Parking is in the nearby lot, and parking spaces are not usually a major problem in the evenings and on weekends except during weekend mass times (Saturday 5:15 pm and Sunday mornings). During business hours on weekdays the majority of the parking lot is rented for students by the university. You can be ticketed for parking in the reserved spots. See parking waypoint for the location of a "safe" spot.
A & B. N 38° 02.265, W 078° 30.930
Your first stop will be the courtyard outside the church. While there is nothing physically to find at this location, the question to answer to get numbers A & B is as follows: What is the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas? His is somewhat unusual in that it is his birthday rather than the day of his death, as is usually the case. Use the internet to find the answer.
January AB
C. N 38° 02.288, W 078° 30.954
Next stop is the Jeremiah 1:5 monument that was built as an Eagle Scout project. What is the numerical value of the second letter of the sixth word on the monument? A=1 and Z=26.
C
D. N 38° 02.279, W 078° 30.912
Head over to a statue of a Dominican Friar made from car bumpers. The Dominican Friars came to UVA and St. Thomas Aquinas in 1963 on the feast day of St. Lawrence, _/10/1963. What is the month of that date +1? The answer is not physically on the statue or surroundings. Use the internet to find the answer.
D
E. N 38° 02.322, W 078° 30.960
You are now going to head to the Dominican Priory and Columbarium. This was completed in 2013, and houses the friars. It can permanently house 8. What are the numbers in the address of the priory? Take the first street number and subtract the second. In other words, XY Midmont Lane (X-Y=E).
E
F. N 38° 02.308, W 078° 30.949
After a short walk you will arrive at an outdoor Stations of the Cross that was built as an Eagle Scout project. Here you will find 14 stations in Roman numeral order. Go to the station at the coordinates, and translate the Roman numeral into an Arabic number. (The Roman numeral consists of two letters.)
F
Now replace the letters with the numbers that you've been writing down to find the final location! Each of the letters corresponds to one of the waypoints. It won't be too far. This is a nano sized container with log only. Bring your own pen!
N 38° 02.ABC
W 078° 30.DEF
First To Find is Kivotos!
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.