  But why did Dietrich insist on this particular term? It is interesting to notice that the term is not found in the works of St.  Thomas Aquinas. Perhaps Dietrich wanted to emphasize that the universe as he understood it included all beings, even the divine being. For Aquinas, universum was synonymous with creatura, there being a radical difference between creative being and created being, a distinction that Aquinas highlights by equating the totality of created being with the universe. Dietrich, however, does not do this. He wishes to emphasize the unity of being, created and uncreated.  There is thus a community, or if you will, a university of being. And so he most likely used this term universitas to express this community of being.