Pseudo Thomas Aquinas

"Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, lofty origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your brilliance penetrate into the darkness of our understanding and take from us the double darkness in which we have been born, an obscurity of both sin and ignorance. Give us a sharp sense of understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant us the talent of being exact in our explanations, and the ability to express ourselves with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in completion; through Christ our Lord. Amen."

     That, just one of a number of very closely related versions, derives from the "Creator ineffabilis," which Corpus Thomisticum (which tends to follow the better editions, including the Leonine whenever possible) places under "Some works falsely ascribed to Thomas" ("OPERA ALIQUA FALSE ADSCRIPTA THOMAE") and "by an unknown author" ("Ignoti Auctoris").  I have not gone looking for any of the actual scholarship in confirmation of this, however.  For some rather different versions, search Google for "Creator ineffable", "Ineffable Creator", etc. (see M. A. van den Oudenrijn in Angelicum 6, nos. 1-2 (1929):  77-82 for an Armenian version beginning "Creator omnium, incomprehensibilis et ineffabilis" (79-81)).  This version, taken from Wikipedia most immediately, and just one of several translations undoubtedly, follows the Latin (taken from Corpus Thomisticum) a bit more closely:

"Ineffable Creator, Who, of the treasures of Thy wisdom hast formed the nine choirs of Angels, and set them on high above the heavens in a wonderful order, and hast exquisitely fashioned and knit together all parts of the universe; do Thou, Who art the true fountain and one principle of light and wisdom, deign to shed the brightness of Thy light upon the darkness of my understanding, and thus to disperse the twofold darkness of sin and ignorance wherein I was born. O Thou, Who makest eloquent the tongues of babies, instruct my tongue, and pour forth on my lips the grace of thy blessing. Grant me acuteness in understanding what I read, power to retain it, subtlety to discern its true meaning, and clearness and ease in expressing it. Do Thou order my beginnings, direct and further my progress, complete and bless my ending; Thou Who art true God and true Man, Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen."

"Creator ineffabilis, qui de thesauris sapientiae tuae tres Angelorum hierarchias designasti, et eas super caelum empyreum miro ordine collocasti, atque universi partes elegantissime disposuisti, tu, inquam, qui verus fons luminis et sapientiae diceris, atque supereminens principium: infundere digneris super intellectus mei tenebras tuae radium claritatis, duplices, in quibus natus sum, a me removens tenebras, peccatum, scilicet, et ignorantiam. Tu, qui linguas infantium facis disertas, linguam meam erudias, atque in labiis meis gratiam tuae benedictionis infundas. Da mihi intelligendi acumen, retinendi capacitatem, addiscendi modum et facilitatem, interpretandi subtilitatem, loquendi gratiam copiosam; ingressum instruas, progressum dirigas, egressum compleas. Tu qui es verus Deus et homo. Qui vivis et cetera."

     According to Enrique Alarcón, of Corpus Thomisticum, "the general criterion [of authenticity] that currently prevails is that explained by the Leonine Commission" in its "Introductio generalis" to Les opuscules de Saint Thomas on pp. I-X of Opera omnia iussu Leonis XIII P. M. edita 40 (Ad Sanctae Sabinae, Rome, 1969).  (This, by the way, is in French, not Latin.)  Offhand, though, I don't see a mention of the prayers (preces).

Bibliography (in progress):

• Esser, Th.  D. Thomae Aquinatis monita et preces.  3rd ed.  Paderborn:  1890.  Pp. 60-73.
• Grabmann, Martin.  Die Werke des hl. Thomas von Aquin:  eine literarhistorische Untersuchung und Einführung.  Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters, Texte und Untersuchungen 22.1/2.  3. stark erweiterten Auflage.  Münster Westfalen:  Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1949.  Pp. 370-372, on the Gebete, including the Creator ineffabilis.  "Uccelli [(below)] hat das Alter seiner Handschriften nicht angegeben."  Whereas Grabmann, coming along behind him, came to the conclusion that, with the exception of the Concedi mihi, these prayers all appear for the first time in manuscripts of the 15th century, and thus well within the period in which the clear dubia et spuria, too, arise.  For as long as we have no earlier testimony, then, "a strongly scientific proof for the authenticity of these prayers" is not to be expected.  And that because no proof from internal evidence alone can be ultimately compelling.
• Quétif, Jacques, and Echard, Jacques.  Scriptores ordinis praedicatorum recensiti. . . . .  Vol. I, . . . ab initio ad an. M.D. (Paris:  1719), 344 (see no. 4 at the bottom of col. 1 and the top of col. 2).  "Eae quidem quoad stylum non elegantes, sed quoad sensus piissimae.  Ex quibus discimus has orationes traditione acceptas sub nominee S. Thomae in sacrario S. Jacobi publice omnibus sacerdotibus in exemplum prostasse, unde Valleoletanus exscripserit":  "These [prayers] are, with respect to style, inelegant to be sure, but with respect to sense, most pious.  From [all of] which [considerations] we learn that these prayers, accepted by the tradition under the name of St. Thomas, have, for example, been offered up [(prostasse, on the model of prostrasse (from prosterno), the perfect active infinitive of prosto)] in the sanctuary/at the shrine of St. James publicly by all priests; hence [Ludovicus] Valleoletanus copied/reproduced them]."  Ludovicus Valleoletanus (Ludovicus de Valleoleti (Valladolid), etc.) seems to have been an early 15th-century Dominican who composed a bibliographical Tabula of some sort, though I have been unable so far to find out anything else about him.
• Sertillanges, A.-D.  Prières de saint Thomas d'Aquin.  Paris:  1920.
• Uccelli, P. A.  "Orazioni e detti di San Tommaso d'Aquino."  La scienza e la fede 68 (1868):  353-372, 441-450.