They came together for a final time on Saturday after four years of contemplating some of the greatest books ever written.

The 74 graduates of Thomas Aquinas College's class of 2007 were told that God has a unique plan for them in the coming months and years.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him," Archbishop Albert Malcom Ranjith told graduates during his commencement speech at the campus, located in the hills north of Santa Paula.

"God has a unique plan for each of us," the Sri Lanka native said.

Ranjith is the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The congregation deals with many of the affairs of the Latin Catholic Church.

Thomas Aquinas students use the "Great Books" curriculum, reading directly from the works of such thinkers as Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Pascal, Marx and Goethe. They then discuss these works around a table with their professors, called "tutors" at the college, in keeping with the school's Socratic method of teaching through guided questioning.

Graduates earn a bachelor's degree in liberal arts.

Rafael Orellana, 22, grew up in Santa Paula in the shadow of Thomas Aquinas College.

When it came time to choose a college, Thomas Aquinas was a natural choice, partly because Orellana's parents, Robert and Mary, had studied there in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

"I really couldn't have asked for a better foundation in terms of a college education," said Orellana.

Among the things he learned was how to structure an argument, a skill he said will serve him well when he enrolls in law school this fall.

Orellana said he was accepted to various law schools, including those at UC Berkeley and UCLA. He chose the law school at the University of Virginia in part because the school offered him a generous scholarship.

Juliana Vazquez enrolled at Thomas Aquinas after a year of studying creative writing at Princeton University.

"I decided I wanted to study philosophy," the 24-year-old Chicago native said.

Vazquez said the past four years at Thomas Aquinas have been some of the most intense and profound in her of life.

"I learned so much and I will take a lot of fond memories with me," said Vazquez, who plans to study theology at Marquette University in Wisconsin in the fall.

Saturday's commencement comes amid numerous construction projects at the campus, including the $21 million campus chapel Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel.

From its cruciform floor plan to its long nave, pillars, arches, vaulted ceiling and marble floors, the chapel exudes a classical feel. Its designers say the chapel, which has a capacity to seat some 700 worshippers, is one of the most unusual architectural projects to come to Ventura County in a long time. The chapel is scheduled to be completed next year.