St. Albert the Great : life sketch and novena


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LIFE SKETCH AND NOVENA

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ot. Albert the Cjreat

By REV. THOMAS M. SCHWERTNER, O.P.

New York
THE PAULIST PRESS
401 West 59th Street



iNiltil (©bstat

:

Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D.,
Censor Librorum.

imprimatur

:

*Patrick Cardinal Hayes,
Archbishop, New York.

New York, September 24
,
1932 .

Cum Permissu Superiorum.



St. Albert the Great

Albert the Great is unique in the an-
nals of the world for having made the best
synthesis of all knowledge which his prede-
cessors had succeeded in gathering. He
evaluated critically the discoveries of his

intellectual forebears, and made observa-
tions of his own that served as hints to fu-
ture explorers and investigators. Unlike
most other intellectual leaders he was inti-
mately bound up with the political affairs
and movements of his day. And he did not
stand off from the rich religious and ecclesi-
astical activity of the times. Despite these

absorbing social and intellectual interests
and activities he found time to lead an in-
tensely spiritual life. Not for nothing has
the world accorded him the title “Great”
for what he did. The Church has canon-
ized him for what he was. And lest we
think falsely that his knowledge was not
according to God, the Church has placed
upon his head the aureole of her twenty-
eighth Doctor.

Where the green gray Danube makes a
broad bend in its course in the stretches of
Upper Suabia, about thirty leagues from
Augsburg, where the countryside is peo-
pled with the elfs and fairies of the ex-
uberant German imagination, at Lauingen,
a quiet little town, which soon was to win
the rights and privileges of an imperial



2 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

city, Albert of Bolstadt was born in the
last decade of the twelfth century, in 1193,
following the oldest and most reliable chro-
nologists. His father represented the au-
thority of the Hohenstaufen in the locality,
living in a stately palace on the market
square of Lauingen and possessing at Bol-
stadt, about three leagues away, an impos-
ing manor from which the family took its
name. Thither Albert and his brother
Henry, perhaps also two sisters, repaired
in summer when the small gentry of the
neighborhood and the affluent citizens be-
took themselves to nearby Faimingen,

whose sandy beach had attracted the better
classes since Roman days for sport and rest.

Fond of the Great Outdoors

In his Commentary on St. Luke Albert
speaks of every phase of the moral instruc-

tion and upbringing of the young, and in
lieu of any positive facts on these heads
about himself, we might rightly consider
these statements as refreshing reminiscences

written down in the troubled days of his
episcopacy when he fled for a few hours of
silence to a villa on the Danube-Donaus-
tauf—owned by the See of Ratisbon. But
there are picturesque accounts of fishing

and swimming exploits in his works on nat-
ural science which refer to these days. He
tells us the course of the fishes; how by
diving for them, as they lay lazily in the



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 3

small grottoes along the shore, one could

catch them by hand; how harpoons are
used in whaling and how the blubber is ex-
tracted from the whale. He describes the
flight of birds

;
how he went hunting with

falcons; how the falcons were sent on high
and the birds brought down; how young
birds fed a blind old swan and then hustled
it off to safety; how barnacle geese are
born; where eagles nest. In a word, the
lad was fond of the great outdoors and
moved about with eyes open for a thrill or
a pretext for an expedition. From his fa-
ther’s ranger, from the huntsmen and
fishermen of the environs, Albert gathered

much lore about field, forest and river,
and soon began testing out for himself the
fantastic tales which had been retailed to
him over the groaning table at Bolstadt or
on winter evenings before the fir fires at
Lauingen.

Early Studies

As a full grown young man he turned
his face toward Padua to finish the studies
which had been given him at home by his
mother, the Chaplain of the manor and,
perhaps, private tutors from one of the
nearby monasteries. At Padua he followed
the arts course, also law and medicine, evi-
dently seeking to satisfy his own intellec-
tual curiosity by such an almost all-em-
bracing curriculum or else endeavoring to



4 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

find his intellectual level. He kept up his
outdoor hikes for from his writings we
know that he was familiar with some of the
natural wonders of the locality; that he
witnessed the asphyxiation of a man by the
fumes of a closed over well; that he ob-
served marvels in the marble that was being
quarried for the completion of the Cathe-

dral of Santa Juliana; that he noted the

idiosyncrasies of an earthquake in 1222 at
Venice. That these outdoor diversions
broke down his academic morale would
seem to follow from the taunt leveled at
him later by Roger Bacon who said that
he never took his degrees at Padua.

Perhaps this academic indifference was
due to the preaching of Jordan of Saxony
who, following his custom, came annually
to preach a course of Advent sermons at
Padua to which the University students
flocked. Albert must have been glad to see
a fellow countryman and, impressionable
youth that he was, he must soon have fallen
victim to the charm of Jordan’s personality
or else been impressed by his academic
prestige, not only in Scriptural but also

scientific knowledge, especially mathemat-
ics. Albert like so many of his fellow stu-
dents had made up his mind to join this
new kind of monks who were the first to
make study an integral and essential part
of their religious vocation. But his idea of
the religious state was exalted and he hesi-



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 5

tated about joining. His uncle, who acted
in some legal capacity for the Hohenstaufen
at Padua, after the peace effected between
them and the clergy a few years previously,
seeing the perplexity of the lad had wrung
from him a promise to keep away from the
sermons of the Preaching Friars for the

space of a year. On listening to one of the
first sermons of Jordan after the expiration
of the year Albert was surprised to hear an
accurate description of his state of mind
and heart. Seeing in this revelation of his
own vacillation and hesitation a direct call
from heaven he approached Jordan after
the sermon—and soon put on the white
woolen habit which, perhaps, the convent
tailor, to satisfy the great crop of vocations

following upon the sermons of the Master
General, had sat up all night to make.

Ordination

In the solitude of the novitiate Albert

was formed so thoroughly according to the
authentic Dominican model that the dis-
tractions of a life-time and the honors
which later came to him could never efface
or tarnish his ideals. About the year 1233,
he was ordained and sent back at once to
his native country to teach in Cologne
where a race of preachers and professors
was being prepared to people the Do-
minican Convents which were increasing as
if by magic. Evidently his teaching at Co-



6 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

logne on the Sentences of Peter Lombard
must have been extraordinary for before
the year 1237 he acted as professor at
Hildesheim, Freiburg, Ratisbon and Stras-
burg, for no other purpose than to put
studies on a solid basis and to set a high
standard for those who were forming the
leaders of the future. And he displayed
a deep interest in matters which most of
the clergy overlooked but which he de-
scribed in detail for the obvious purpose of

arousing the intellectual curiosity of his

students who by their scholastic eminence
would have to establish solidly the prestige
of their Order. Thus in Saxony he noted
the passage of a comet and made some
shrewd observations about it; he traveled
on foot to the mines of Freiburg in Saxony
and Goslar in Hanover, to examine the
structure of stones and metals; at Cologne
he made archaeological excavations in the
foundations of the Cathedral to which a
sacristy was being added after a conflagra-
tion. At Paris he received from one of the
two sons of Frederic III. of Castile, a pearl
found in the belly of a fish and showing
the form of ten serpents so clearly that one
could detect the individual eyes. And
about 1244 he saw the greatest marvel of
the age,—the young Neapolitan Count,
who, liberated after a year s captivity in his

father’s castle at San Giovanni because of
his having put on the habit of a Friar, was



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 7

sent to Cologne to be preserved from the
importunities and molestations of his en-
raged mother, the Countess Theodora.
Thomas Aquinas and Albert soon became
fast friends and their friendship is as idyllic
as any of those historic Christian friend-
ships—the two Gregorys at Athens, Fran-
cis of Assisi and Dominic Guzman at
Rome, which Gozzuoli has immortalized

—

which prove so well that piety does not kill
off humanity or the love of God force men
to misprize the love of friends.

Successful Teacher

In 1245 Albert was sent to Paris to com-
plete his teaching preparatory to taking his

master’s degree in the most famous theo-
logical school in Christendom. Once more
he proved the superiority of his teaching,
for students flocked to his chair in such

goodly numbers as to arouse the envy and
jealousy of the secular professors. Aside

from his commentary on the Sentences of
Peter Lombard and the Bible Albert spon-
sored the method of Aristotle which was
under suspicion because of the faulty and
vitiated versions which had been taken over
by the Christian professors of the Occident
from the Jewish and Moslem commentators
in Spain. As Albert displayed what was
considered undue interest in the natural
sciences it was easy enough to trump up a
case against him. But the Archbishop of



8 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

Paris trusted him enough to invite him to
sit as one of the judges in the trial about

the supposed abduction by the devil of the
daughter of the Count of Schwanenberg
and to determine the fate of the Talmud
which the denizens of the Paris Ghetto
were circulating stealthily. In 1248 Albert
was formally received as the first German
amongst the Paris doctors after a public
examination which caused profound amaze-
ment and soon became legendary.

Mediator

Fresh from his triumph at Paris Albert
took the road to Cologne late in 1248
where he became the director of studies in
the new Dominican Studium, or Univer-
sity, decreed by the General Chapter at
Paris of the preceding year. The prestige
he gave this school and the academic spirit
he breathed into it continued for one hun-

dred and fifty years when the Dominican
Studium became the University of Cologne.
This functioned until the Reformation and
was resurrected in our own day by Cardi-
nals Schulte and Fischer. During the six
years of his regency (1248-1254) Albert

produced many of his written works;
preached incessantly to the people

;
received

and entertained King William of Holland,
on January 6, 1249, in the convent con-

servatory abloom with flowers, which gave
rise to a cycle of the most fantastic legends



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 9

which Goethe has borrowed from
;
obtained

from Conrad of Hochstaden, Archbishop of
Cologne, precious privileges for the people.

This latter concession whetted the de-

sires of the people for more privileges and
for a dozen years, on at least seven occa-

sions, Albert used his good offices to pre-

serve the balance of justice between liege
lord and his liegemen. And almost every
treaty during the days of Conrad and his
successor, Engelbert of Falkenberg, repro-

duced almost verbatim the decisions which
Albert had made in the tangled cases. So
just were his decisions that he retained the
confidence of both parties to the protracted

quarrels who in turn came to him to enlist
his services. Again he arbitrated between
Cologne and Utrecht regarding commercial
relations and imposts. He settled long
standing and intricate quarrels between the
Abbey of Heitersbach and William of
Auvergne, between the Chapter of the
Twelve Apostles at Cologne and the Cis-
tercians of Bartscheid.

Alexander IV. intrusted him with the
execution of a dispensation between John
of Brandenburg and Jetta, daughter of Al-
bert, Duke of Saxony; with supplying a
successor for the see of Brandenburg; with
executing marriage dispensations for Con-
rad von Hohenlohe and Berthelda his
spouse. Up to the very end of his life Al-
bert was called upon to iron out difficulties



10 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

for bishops and their peoples, for princes,
parishes, and monasteries,—there are sev-
eral hundred documents which show forth
how unintermittently he acted as peace-
maker and arbiter with no reward for him-
self save the good will of the people whom
he loved passionately.

Provincial of German Province

In 1254 his brethren elected Albert Pro-
vincial of the German Province. This
meant that he was obliged to visit over
four hundred establishments, in which
dwelt over one thousand friars, from the
coniines of Austria to the North Sea. He
traveled by foot in his visitations establish-
ing discipline everywhere; made a half
dozen new foundations; established a com-
munity of Nuns at Paradise, near Soest;
promoted study; wrote books along the
way which he left behind as tokens of his
affection and an inducement to the brethren
to dispense the treasures of wisdom. In
1257 he went to the Chapter of Valen-
ciennes where, with Thomas Aquinas, who
had been his pupil for four years, and Peter
of Tarentaise (later Pope Innocent V.),
Buonhomo and Florence Hasdin he drew
up the Curriculum of Studies for his Order
—a pedagogical document of the highest
importance in the history of education. He
also went to Anagni to defend the Francis-
cans and Dominicans before Alexander IV.



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 11

against the assaults of William of St.
Amour and a handful of Paris professors
who resented the admittance of the Friars
to the teaching body of the University. In-
cidentally he vindicated the monastic ideal

against those who would have banished it
from the Catholic economy. The Pope
compelled him to remain at the Papal Court
to lecture on the Gospel of St. John in the
Curial University established for the time.

And Albert searched the countryside for
manuscripts, succeeding in the discovery

of one of Aristotle’s most important works.
During this time he refuted the pantheism
and monopsychism of Averroes thus strik-
ing a blow at those false teachers through-
out subsequent ages, even our own, who by
seeking to multiply man’s personality de-
graded his dignity psychologically—the
Theosophists, Vedantists and Freudians.

Bishop of Ratisbon

On the expressed command of Alexander
IV. he submitted to consecration as Bishop
of Ratisbon and immediately set about the
reform of the clergy, the religious and peo-
ple; the promotion of works of piety and
beneficence; the removal of a heavy debt
of five hundred pounds gold incurred
through the negligence and worldly-mind-
edness of his predecessor. This zeal
brought him not only the ill will of the
nobles whose high-handedness Albert re-



12 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

proved and from whose frivolous amuse-
ments he remained away but also the op-
position of the common people whose luke-
warmness he sought to dispel by word and
example. Because he traveled afoot, in the
coarse shoes in usage amongst the Domini-
cans, he was referred to as the Episcopus
cum magnis sotularibus, which might be
rendered in the ribald language of our day
as “Boots the Bishop.” The fine fruits
of his episcopacy, besides the reform of the

diocese, are the seventy-eight Sermons of
the Year, the fifty-nine prayers on the Sun-
day Gospels, the fifty-nine Sermons on the
Saints and the thirty-two Sermons on the
Eucharist. Did he have himself in mind
when writing in his Commentary on St.
Luke (composed during these troublous
months as an escape from worry) that the
true Dominican is like one of the dogs
which licked the sores of Lazarus? Even,

then, the Dominicans, by a play on their
name, were called the “Dogs of the Lord”
and never so much so as when by their
preaching they brought healing to the souls

of men filled with the ulcers of sin.

Spiritual Works

The Sunday prayers afford a wondrously
attractive picture of Albert’s piety and
spiritual physiognomy where there is noth-
ing bitter or subtle, nothing over-refined or

condescending. They with his other



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 13

spiritual works played a great part in the
foundation of German mysticism along the
Rhine. His Eucharistic. sermons put him
in the front ranks of those who during the
Christian ages have promoted a love of the
Hidden Christ and are the finest products
of their kind in that age, worthy to stand
beside the dogmatic treatises of Thomas
Aquinas. During these days he began col-
lecting and setting in order his notes and
reflections on the Blessed Virgin and his
Mariale is the outpouring of his tender

heart which cannot forget the highest theo-
logical speculation on the prerogatives of
Mary.
Urban IV. accepted the resignation of

Albert in May, 1252, but prevailed upon
him to remain at the Papal Curia at Or-
vieto where he acted as advisor of the Pope.
Having been Patriarch of Jerusalem Urban
knew the sad plight of affairs in a land
where Christian heroism had seemed for a
short space to have put an end to Moslem
abominations. Albert was sent to preach
a Crusade in favor of the Holy Land as
earlier in his career he had been sent by the
Pope to Bohemia and, perhaps, Russia, to
save the works and institutes of Christen-
dom. During one month he received more
than twenty rescripts from the Pope giving
him the fullest power and attesting to the
high hopes which the Pontiff had set on the
Crusade. He enlisted the services of Bert-



14 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

hold of Ratisbon, the most famous preacher
of German history, a Franciscan, beside
whom Albert did not have to blush either
for zeal or holiness or for eloquence.

Varied Activities

But the Pope soon died and the Chris-
tian Occident, troubled with worries closer

home, had no ear for the cries coming from
the moribund Kingdom of Jerusalem estab-
lished by Godfrey de Bouillon. Albert,
therefore, returned to his convent and for
fourteen years (1263-1277) answered any
call for help from the Brenner Pass to An-
vers, and from Poland to Lyons. He
taught intermittently in the schools of his

own Order and hastened from one convent
to another to breathe new life and enthusi-
asm into professors and students; on two
occasions he met the committee which had
been convened by the General to examine
into the scheme of studies drawn up at
Valenciennes; he fostered Sisterhoods, es-
pecially the many local communities, like
the White Ladies of Cologne, who, because
lacking internal organization, were falling

into abuses—these he affiliated with the
Dominican family; he ordained priests;
consecrated altars and churches at the re-
quest of the Archbishop of Cologne; he

acted in any capacity in settling quarrels
between prelates and peoples; he preached
wherever he went and spread about the



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 15

fragrance of his sanctity; he attended the

Council of Lyons in 1274 and pleaded for
Papal recognition in behalf of Rudolph of
Hapsburg the father of that line of Kings
which has done most for the people by fa-
voring the works of religion; he finished
many written works; retouched others;
amplified others with extensive notes; he
made large excerpts of the more popular
parts of his books and circulated them as
tracts or brochures amongst the people; he
composed ardent prayers, filled with ortho-
dox theology, for general circulation
amongst the people in order to foster their
piety; he encouraged art in the building of
a sacristy to the Cologne Cathedral and
made possible the erection of a choir for
the recitation of the Divine Office adjoin-

ing the Dominican Church of the Holy
Cross in Cologne, thus giving an impetus to
Gothic architecture in the Rhineland; he
carried on a large correspondence, especial-
ly with his old pupil, Ulric of Strasburg,

now Provincial in Germany, encouraging
every manner of good work or enterprise;
as an old man he hastened from Cologne
to Paris to defend the orthodoxy of his pu-
pil, Thomas Aquinas, some of whose propo-
sitions Stephen Tempier, Archbishop of
Paris and Chancellor of the University, in
collusion with Richard Kilwardby of Can-
terbury had quite unwarrantedly singled
out for censure and condemnation.



16 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

Death at Cologne

Then, effacing himself he awaited death

at Cologne. This intervened at the twi-

light hour on November IS, 1280, as the
brethren knelt around him, sitting in a huge
wooden chair with a robe thrown over his
lap, singing the “Salve Regina

”

to the ac-

cents of which every Dominican hopes to
die. Miracles and visions soon made his
tomb glorious necessitating three succes-
sive translations of the body. By popular
acclaim he was called blessed. The Church
ratified this cult in 1859 and in 1931 gave
him the final honors of the altar and the
doctorate.

One can scarcely imagine how a man
whose time was so broken up by the most
diversified kinds of work, found the oppor-

tunity to produce works which filled thirty-
eight quarto volumes with at least ten more
in manuscript form still unpublished. His
profane works cover the entire field of nat-
ural science as envisaged by Aristotle

—

that is, ten books on logic, twenty-five trea-

tises on the natural sciences, a commen-
tary on the metaphysics of Aristotle (to-

gether with another smaller treatise), and
another on the ethics and politics of Aris-
totle. His main concern in writing these
books was to make the entire body of
Aristotle’s teaching understood in the West.

Hence he was the first to comment on all



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 17

the known works of Aristotle. In many
places he frankly and with design para-
phrased the Stagirite since thus he could
best give his genuine thought and brush
away the oblique interpretation of the Jew-
ish. Arab and Moslem commentators. He
utilized every known author to fill out gaps
in Aristotle or to make his meaning clearer.
He added in the form of monographs or
dissertations, observations of his own and
these are highlv interesting as showing the
originality of his mind and his scientific
temper.

The Natural Sciences

In the sections dealing with the natural
sciences he described his own experiments
or gave accounts of experiments conducted
by trustworthy experimenters. From his
own works we know that he established a
school of experimentation although this
scientific method of proceeding brought him
the malodorous name of a magician. He
set up an embryonic laboratory in which
by his experiments he developed formula;
which are taken for granted today. In
chemistry he discovered the law and first
called it affinity; in botany he was the first
since Theophrastus to proceed scientifically
in discovering many peculiarities of plants,
in giving them their German names and in
classifying them for the first time in the
modern fashion

;
in zoology he made a scien-



18 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

tific classification of animals, laid the foun-

dations of comparative zoology, carried on

anatomical operations, established the char-

acteristics of animal psychology, gave Ger-

man names to beasts and left behind de-
scriptions of wild animals which have since,

disappeared; in mineralogy he made room

for an explanation of the action of gases

and vapors on stones and metals, knew how

to transform metals by acids; he believed

in the rotundity of the earth and the in-

habitability of the antipodes; he wrote

learnedly on climatology, the cause of tides,

earthquakes, storms; in biology he antici-

pated the moderns, even to the matter of

terminology, in what he had to say on

temperament and the physical bases of

character.

It is interesting to note that a copy of

his works, owned and annotated by Colum-

bus, is still preserved in Seville, thus es-

tablishing the thesis of Mandonnet that the

popularity of Albert in Spanish Dominican

schools prepared Diego Deza for a friendly

reception of the great navigator’s dreams

which had been woven out of Albert’s

works. He wrote treatises on falconry,
agriculture, hunting, weaving, precious

stones, old age, in which he not only gath-

ered the best which had been said by his

predecessors but in which he always tested

what he accepted, rejected or at least stated

hypothetically what he could not try out



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 19

to his own satisfaction, and enlarged and
expanded from his own observation and ex-
perimentation. He encouraged his pupil,
Thomas Aquinas, to write on bridge build-
ing and aqueducts; Ulric of Strasburg on

clock building as exemplified in the famous
clock of the Twelve Apostles at Strasburg

;

John of Freiburg on the theory of the rain
drop; Vincent of Beauvais and Thomas of
Cantimpre on medicine and veterinary lore.

No wonder that for his wide knowledge
he was called the Doctor Universalis and
for his success in experimentation the Doc-
tor Expertus. No wonder he was looked
upon as an expert in black magic by people
who had only the most rudimentary knowl-
edge of the laws of nature and their mani-
fold operation in the world around us. He
mentions having written a treatise on

mathematics but so far no trace of it has
been discovered. He composed, as he him-
self states, works on music, geometry and
astronomy but these do not appear in the

two complete collections of his printed
works—one in twenty-six folio volumes by
Jammy and another in thirty-eight quarto
volumes by Borgnet.

Philosophical Works

These works on the natural sciences have
brought Albert the greatest renown as a
savant. His own age—mad beyond any
other for speculative knowledge—insisted



20 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

rather upon the worth and importance of
his rational and dialectical works. He
wrote two distinct courses of Rational
Philosophy and here, as in all his philoso-
phical investigations, introduced the au-

thentic Aristotle into the Occidental world.

Before Albert’s age the Stagirite had been
translated at various times, in part, with

varying degrees of faithfulness to the orig-

inal text. But what was supposed to be
the original text had been defaced by the
pantheistic commentators in Spain. Now
Albert tells us that he had taken long voy-
ages in search of the genuine original; had
spared no pains or trouble to find the best
translations as he himself had but the most
rudimentary acquaintance with Greek. It

is demonstrable that from Albert came the
first suggestion of the new translation from
Greek of Aristotle’s text by William of
Morbecke, once a Dominican Bishop of
Corinth. If, as it is generally admitted,

the actual demand upon William was made
by Thomas Aquinas it is legitimate to
infer or conclude that Thomas, who was
never very much concerned about textual
criticism, borrowed the idea from his mas-

ter, Albert, with whom these questions were
a kind of besetting mania. He was a bom
critic though the science had not as yet
been founded with anything like genuinely

workable rules and canons.



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 21

Critical Accuracy

It is really remarkable to find with what
critical incisiveness Albert judged of texts

and versions and variant readings. Having
made sure of his texts, as far as the state
of learning at the time permitted, Albert

set resolutely to work paraphrasing in
eleven books the logic of Aristotle and his
metaphysics in thirteen books. Especially

in the latter department did Albert im-
prove immensely on Aristotle for, in some
of the basic questions which the Stagirite
scarcely touched upon, the great Latin

Schoolman introduced argumentation drawn
from the Fathers of the Church who were
utilized here not so much for their au-
thority as theologians as for their success

in solving philosophical problems which
had escaped the Greek. He rounded out
and reenforced the Stagirite on such ques-
tions as God, the soul and its faculties,
creation, Providence, the destiny of man

—

those basic questions which the world had
been asking itself the more intently be-
cause Aristotle had brought them upon the
intellectual horizon. In many of these
questions Albert leaned heavily upon Plato
whose outlook was more spiritual than that
of Aristotle. Whilst Albert gave his first
allegiance to Aristotle he did not hesitate to
correct him with Plato or any other writer.
This does away once and for all with the



22 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

taunt that Albert was a mere echo of the
Stagirite—the “Ape of Aristotle” as some
of the sour critics of the day called him.

In Albert’s treatment of Aristotle’s

ethics, embracing as it does studies on eco-
nomics and politics or statecraft, Albert
abandoned the method of paraphrase and
reproduced the thought of the Greek under
topical heads deriving logically from the
first principles and postulates. This is,
perhaps, the most significant specimen of
the philosophical speculation of Albert as it

gave him a free hand to show his own na-
tive powers of reasoning. Besides it was
grateful work for a practical-minded man
like Albert whose every day almost was
interrupted by the importunities of his
friends seeking answers to actual questions

concerning the conduct of life. Aquinas,

who excelled in these questions in his Sec-
ond Part of the Summa, attended these lec-
tures of Albert taking down notes in his
own crazy handwriting and intricate short-
hand. And Albert revised the notes of his
pupil carefully. More than any of his
predecessors Albert gave a rational basis

to ethical discussions—a distinct departure
from the canonico-legalistic method of
treatment which had long obtained in the
Christian schools.

Albert contemplated writing two courses
in theology but never finished either of

them. What we do possess, however, is



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 23

sufficient to give us a fair idea of his
theological competence. Just as he made
Christian philosophy walk on its own legs
by giving it Aristotle and the Fathers to
lean upon, so he used the Aristotelian

method in at least one of his courses of
theology. Even in his Commentary on the
Sentences of Peter Lombard he began in-
troducing the Aristotelian method of de-
pendence upon the argument from reason
to support the dogmas of the faith. For
the benefit of the faithful he turned each of

the propositions of the Lombard into a
prayer in which the doctrine was explained
in an unctuous manner. He was the only
man in the Middle Ages to undertake a
commentary of the four separate books and
the Letters of the pseudo-Dionysius, one
of the most abstruse and difficult books to
unravel. In these commentaries Albert re-
vealed the deep mystical bent of his mind,

and laid the foundation for the mysticism
of the Gottesjreunde of the Rhine.

Commentaries on Scripture

Closely allied with his strictly theological

books are his commentaries on practically
the entire Scriptures. His Commentary on
St. John is the most grandiose exegetical
product of the age whilst his Commentary
on St. Luke affords really valuable histori-
cal sidelights on the times. He holds an
intermediate place in Scriptural interpreta-



24 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

tion between Hugh of St. Cher, his friend
and Thomas Aquinas, his pupil. He was
one of the first to treat certain portions of
a book of Scripture under one dogmatic
head thus initiating a method which such
modern Anglican exegetes as J. P. Light-
foot and B. F. Westcott see fit to use even
in our own day of specialized Biblical
exegesis.

Personal Character

From Albert’s prodigious exterior ac-
tivity and his marvelous intellectual energy
under the most trying circumstances and
conditions it appears clearly that he pos-

sessed the characteristics of his race: poise

and reflectiveness, persevering energy and
a quenchless assurance of success. Rather
small of stature, with tremendous shoulders,
distinguished especially for a mole on his
right eyelid, quick of foot, swift in action

he was the type of man to attract atten-
tion anywhere. He was sanguine in his
outlook on life; a sworn enemy of extrava-
gance and singularity, of pettiness and
fussiness in any department of life and
thought; jovial, communicative, courteous,

chivalrous; direct of speech, sometimes al-

most brusque; honest to a fault; kindly
and considerate

;
hating all sham, bluff, pre-

tense, all subtlety of speech or conduct;

quick to forgive; a hopeless optimist. He
made friends everywhere and kept them al-



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 25

ways close to his heart. He was magnani-
mous, magnificent, munificent in every fiber

of his being. He paints unconsciously a
picture of himself when working over
Aristotle’s definition of magnanimity—the
Greek’s “motus gravis” becomes maturity
in Albert’s picture; the “vox gravis

”

be-

comes a sense of security in the guidance
and findings of reason; the “locutio sta-
bilise is metamorphosed into the confidence
that comes from a knowledge of possessing
the truth.

This temperamental optimism Albert

drew from his love of God and his tender
devotion to the Humanity of Jesus, the
Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin. In the
shining light of his supernaturalized char-

acter his life takes on consistency; his uni-

versalist temper becomes easily explain-

able; his prodigious activity appears as the

only outlet for the love which was in his
heart. He was tender as a mother; help-
ful as a friend; simple as a child in the

presence of his father. He was undoubted-
ly one of the greatest lights of the world

but there was nothing cold about the light
he cast about him: for it stole through his

eyes and diffused itself through his hands
and feet and bearing from a glowing heart
within. Perhaps for all his intellectual
greatness he was greatest for his genuine
humanity paired with his undeniable sanc-
tity.



Novena to St. Albert

the Great

First Day

St. Albert the Great and Faith

The least sign of appreciation a man can
show for a gift given him by a friend is to
examine it carefully, explore its hidden
beauties, seek to discover its unseen per-

fections. To do less than this would be
the shabbiest exhibition of ingratitude and
misprizement.

Now the greatest gift of God to man is
faith. Man has no personal claim to it nor
any right to expect it from the hand of
God. It is a pure gift which the Almighty

in His infinite wisdom bestows as He sees
fit. The least a man can do, therefore, is
to appreciate this ineffable gift at its proper

worth, search into its latent beauties, in-

vestigate its many relations to his every
day life.
That St. Albert appreciated the gift of

faith is plain from the sustained interest he
showed in it not only in preaching it to the
unbeliever and seeking to strengthen it
among believers but also in studying its
every phase, aspect and implication. With
the exception of St. Thomas Aquinas, his

26



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 27

favorite pupil, no theologian has ever
studied so thoroughly and profoundly the
mystery of faith, the nature of the act of
faith with all it implies and connotes. If he
devoted so much time to a study of the
natural sciences that he won for himself the
enviable distinction of being called the

Great, it was for the sole purpose of defin-
ing clearly the limits of science, lest it im-

pinge upon the supernatural domain of
faith. Centuries ago Albert drew clearly
the lines between revealed religion and the
positive sciences, establishing the fact, so

frequently denied in our own superficial
age, that there is no conflict between them.

Prayer

St. Albert, who didst appreciate so highly
the unmerited gift of faith, as every act

of thy life plainly shows, obtain for me
from God the grace of setting proper value
upon this pure bounty of God’s goodness to
me. Do thou help me to understand more
fully the mysteries of my holy religion
which, whilst I may never hope to fully
explore, I can always more clearly grasp.
Help me to begin in this world what I hope
to carry to perfection in the world to come;
namely, a constantly increasing insight into

the loving condescensions of the heavenly
Father towards the creatures of His hand.
Make faith a living, vital and energizing
thing in my everyday life so that, having



28 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

developed the theological virtue of faith

given me in baptism, together with hope
and charity, I may live more fully each
day in the light of this same faith, perform-
ing my every act and conforming my every
thought to the high demands which it
makes upon my intellect and the ordering
of my life. Do thou shield me from the
blighting influence which a proud so-called
science may exercise over my mind. Let
me see in the discoveries of modern science
only a partial revelation of that truth which
is vouchsafed to me on God’s own authority
in the faith which I profess.

Second Day

St. Albert and Zeal

Every upright man wishes to share with
his less fortunate fellows the riches of truth

he may possess. The worst miser is that
man who deliberately shuts off from the
ignorant or misinstructed the light shining

unfailingly in the heavens.

The light of faith was given man so that
he might walk in it on the narrow road
leading to his eternal home beyond the
stars. For man has a supernatural destiny
and in order to attain it must use super-
natural means. These supernatural means
come to man through faith and its practi-
cal translation into every day life. Our
Savior bade His Apostles spread the Gospel



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 29

in every corner of the world. Every Cath-
olic has the obligation in conscience of seek-

ing to extend the kingdom of God by giving
testimony through word and example to the
truth he possesses.

St. Albert possessed an ardent zeal to
spread the Gospel. Not only did he preach
it constantly to believers for the purpose of

strengthening their faith but on occasion he
went to the pagans on the far-flung fron-
tiers of Europe to spread a knowledge of
Christ and His Church. He preached the
Crusade so that thus the truth of Christ
might be brought to the Mohammedans and
unbelievers of the Orient. He multiplied
books so as to arm the accredited teachers
of the faith with weapons against its ene-
mies. The great ambition of his life was
to save souls and as many as he could.

Prayer

St. Albert who like another St. Paul wert
eaten up with zeal for spreading a knowl-
edge of the truth, help me by thy inter-
cession before the throne of God to give a
reasonable account of the faith which I
profess. By the example of thy holy life
help me to provide the world with the best
argument for the truth which I possess and
which by its own intrinsic powers can com-
pel others to enter the fold,—the perfect
fulfilling of the law of Christ. Stir up
within my mind an ardent thirst to know



30 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

more profoundly the mysteries of my re-
ligion so that I may be able to explain
them to all who are seeking to come to a
knowledge of Christ. Do not ever permit
me to overlook an occasion of contributing
my part to the spread of Christ’s kingdom
in this world. Obtain for me the courage
to profess my faith fearlessly before men
and the perseverance to translate its every
law into daily practise so that men, seeing
the manner of life I lead, may be impelled
to investigate for themselves the truths

which my Savior Jesus Christ made known
to me and which are taught me without
hesitation by the Church He established in
this world. Give me something of thine
own zeal for souls so that by laboring for
the salvation of others I may make more
certain my own election.

Third Day

St. Albert and the Blessed Eucharist

A wise man seeks to benefit others in a
lasting way. He may on occasion afford
temporary relief but, even in the act of

assuaging pain or lightening poverty, he

dreams of doing something which will have
permanent effects. Parents strive after this

world’s goods in order to leave a rich in-

heritance to their children. The state
makes wise laws in order to benefit future
generations of citizens.



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 31

When Christ preached His Gospel and
established His Church He had in mind not
only the people of His own age but of all
the ages to come. So that there might be

no step-children in His family of the re-
deemed He left Himself truly and substan-
tially to the world in the real presence of

the Blessed Sacrament, so much so, indeed,
that we of this late day and hour may feel
that the Savior is as near to us as He was
to the men and women who looked upon
Him in the flesh during the days of His
earthly sojourn. Truly our God is with us
in all His humanity and divinity, His body
and soul, in the august and adorable Sacra-
ment of the Altar. He is not only our
Friend whom we may visit and consult in
times of stress, our Immaculate Lamb who
is slain for us mystically in the Holy Sacri-
fice of the Mass for the remission of our
sins, but also our soul’s Food in Holy Com-
munion for the long journey to eternity.
The devotion of St. Albert to the Hidden

Christ colored his whole life and all his ac-
tions. Not only did he seek to penetrate as
far as the human mind can hope to do into
the august Mystery of the Altar, but he
spent long hours of the night, after days of
weary toil, in the presence of the Unseen
Guest. He celebrated Mass with the love
of a seraph and preached the wonders of
the Eucharist to the people with irresistible

power. He contributed as much as any



32 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

man of his age to a spread of deep and fiery
love for the Eucharistic Christ.

Prayer

St. Albert, chosen friend of the Eucha-
ristic Master, help me to understand in
some poor way something of the love which
impelled my Savior to leave Himself be-
hind in the tabernacle, really and sub-
stantially. as a trusted Friend, a divine Vic-

tim and the supernatural Bread of my soul.
Teach me to find delight in visiting the
Eucharistic Christ in order to learn from
Him practical lessons for the guidance of
my every day life. Give me something of
thine own ardor when receiving into my
soul the Body of my Lord. Instruct my
lips to preach always and everywhere the
condescensions of a Savior who finds His
delights in being with the children of men
so that this dark, dank place of pilgrimage
may, by reason of the Real Presence, be an
image of that heavenly home where I shall
see my Savior, no longer veiled, darkly, but
face to face as He is.

Fourth Day

St. Albert and the Passion of Christ

Even the hardest heart is moved by the
sight of a sacrifice which does not spare the

giver. Words of sympathy may be very
welcome in moments of sorrow, but, on



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 33

consideration, they seem utterly cheap un-
less accompanied by acts of real compas-
sion and commiseration. When a man
empties himself in any way whatsoever for
the sake of his fellows, then we may be
certain that the most stubborn heart is on
the point of submitting to what is noble,
generous and magnanimous. Self-sacrifice
reveals the best in man and elicits the finest
qualities in the heart of the onlooker.

St. John tells us that Christ knew what
was in the heart of man. With all his
faults and propensities to evil there is al-
ways in the human heart a strain which,
by the sight and exhibition of sacrifice, can
be brought in accord with what is beauti-
ful. It is for this reason that we read in
the Holy Scriptures: “If I be lifted up I
shall draw all things to myself.” Jesus
hanging on the Cross subdued the thief on
His right, the Roman Centurion, the count-
less men and women who were struck by
the regal generosity of His Passion. The
Cross of Christ, if it be but allowed to

exercise its appeal over the human heart, is
irresistible.

Like every experienced teacher of souls

St. Albert knew the power of the Cross
and never ceased to preach its saving
mercies. In the sermons he preached al-

most every day he never failed to speak of
Christ’s mercies as shown forth by that
symbol of pardon which is the Cross. He



34 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

inculcated devotion to the Five Wounds of
Our Lord and made men understand that,
howsoever great and numerous their sins,
there was abundance of redemption in the
cleansing Blood of the Redeemer. When
he preached to the pagans along the fron-

tiers of Russia it was always the Cross
which he held up to their eyes. Accus-
tomed to all kinds of cruelties these people
were subdued by the rigors to which Christ
submitted for the weal of the world. Like

another St. Paul, Albert preached Christ

and Him crucified and thus won countless
souls to the Church.

Prayer

True lover of the Cross, St. Albert, do
thou obtain for me the light to see in the
saving wood a pledge of mercy and salva-
tion. Help me to realize that by my own
sins I have made my Savior undergo the
bitterness of the Passion and the cruel
agony of the death on the Cross. As thou
wert filled with sorrow for thine own few
sins by a study and contemplation of the
Cross, so do thou help me to weep over my
own countless offenses, like Mary Mag-
dalen, in the shadow of the Cross. Bring
my wandering feet to this fountain of par-
don so that, through a true sorrow for my
sins, I may merit fellowship with the re-
deemed. Let me never be ashamed of the



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 35

Cross nor fearful of preaching its saving

mercies to a world which seeks to avoid it.
As thou didst take up thy Cross daily in
order to make thyself more conformable to
thy crucified Master, so do thou help me to
accept in good spirit the crosses which my
heavenly Father sends me for my souks
purification. And do thou teach me after
thy own example to perform voluntary pen-
ances and mortifications so that I may
never get out of step with those followers

of Christ who go after Him on the road of
suffering to the mount of crucifixion.

Fifth Day

St. Albert and Mary

A mother’s love is greater than any other
love in this world. It counts no costs or
labors and finds supreme delight in multi-
plying itself in countless ways to come to
the assistance of those who owe their life
to her generosity and sacrifice. The only
man about whom the world has a right to
despair is the unfortunate one who has
killed off in his heart love for his mother.

And, perhaps, the most touching thought
at sight of such an ingrate is the assurance
that, though the child erase from his mind
the memory of the mother from whom he
took life, she never forgets, she never re-

pels, she never refuses to spend herself for

her own.



36* ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

In order to reach the human heart
quickly and surely Our Savior came to us
in a human way. Through the operation
of the Holy Spirit He took flesh in the
virginal breast of Our Lady and permitted
her to exercise in His regard all the tender-
est offices of real motherhood. His love for
her was oceanic and no man can hope to
measure it by earthly measures. Her love
for Him staggers the imagination. And
that we might feel the blessed influence of
her tender regard for us, Jesus on the Cross

handed us over to the tender keeping of
His Mother in the person of His beloved
disciple St. John. The love which Mary
lavished on Jesus during the days of His

earthly life she now pours upon us who in
the words of St. Paul may look upon Him
as our “elder brother.” The virtuous Mary
solicits by the example of those virtues
which shine forth from her life. Those

who have strayed far afield she brings back
to Jesus by the tenderness, understanding

and pity which she, as the Refuge of Sin-

ners, never fails to manifest.

St. Albert’s devotion to the Blessed Vir-

gin was part and parcel of his spiritual life.

From tenderest youth he looked upon her
and treated her as his mother. He preached
with special delight upon her glories and

prerogatives and her countless claims on

the hearts of the faithful. He wrote the
finest book of his age on the various offices



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 37

of the Blessed Mother, both as regards

Jesus and all those creatures who were re-
deemed by His love. And in the closing
years of his life he spoke of her as a child

who was homesick for a sight of a long lost
mother. In the fervor of his love he broke
forth in hymns and canticles in her honor
as he, a broken man, shuffled up and down
the long shady cloisters of the convent at
Cologne. And as his soul was leaving the
body the soft strains of the Salve Regina
brought to his face the smile which made
it winsome even in death.

Prayer

St. Albert, faithful son of the heavenly

Mother and powerful preacher of her
beauty and glory, help me to appreciate the
gift which Jesus gave me when, dying on
the Cross, He handed over to me His
Blessed Mother. And as thou didst man-
age to follow over the way which Jesus
pointed out because of thy devotion to His

Blessed Mother so do thou obtain for me
the grace to practise my faith in everyday
life, because thus I shall please her who
brought into this world the Savior of the

peoples. Help me to imitate the virtues of
Mary, to sing her praises, to promote her
glory, to instill into the hearts of all with

whom I come in contact a deep devotion
to the heavenly Queen. Let me comport



38 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

myself in life like a true child of Mary so
that when the final hour comes I need not
fear that my Blessed Mother will not be
present to receive my soul in order to pre-
sent it at the throne of her heavenly Son,

Jesus Christ, my Lord and God.

Sixth Day

St. Albert and Loyalty to the Church

There is no more repugnant sight in this
world than a rebel who turns against the
country which has afforded him opportuni-
ties of all kinds. A traitor against his fel-
low man is considered the worst of all out-
casts. A chronic critic who vents his lack
of allegiance to his country goes without

honor at home and abroad and is shunned
by upright men everywhere.
Our Lord established a visible society in

this world to continue His work until the
end of time. He promised to abide with it
forever, that it might echo His genuine

thought and body forth His real spirit un-
til the consummation of the world. He
sent His Church the Holy Spirit who will
never depart from her. The Church is
nothing else than the continuation and ex-

tension of Jesus Christ down the centuries
to the end of time. In a real but mystic

manner every phase of His life is reenacted
at some time or other, in one corner or

other of the world, in the vicissitudes which



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 39

befall the interior and exterior life of the
Church. Therefore, disloyalty to the

Church is nothing else than frank dis-
loyalty to Christ Himself.

St. Albert’s love of the Church was
manly and courageous. A forthright,
straightforward man, St. Albert gave un-
conditional allegiance to the Church and
her authorities. His loyalty prompted him
to believe everything which the Church
taught and also to think and feel with her
in all questions outside the realm of dogma.
The critical word was never on his lip nor
the vacillating thought in his mind. As
soon as Rome spoke Albert was satisfied.
And with the native courage of his heart
he sought in every possible way to promote
the reign of the Church in the world. He
preached the Crusade because the Pope saw
in these holy wars a sublime undertaking

for the spread of the faith. He preached
to the pagans on the confines of Europe so
that they might come under the benign rule
of the Mother Church. In his written
works he confounded vehemently those
who in any way laid unholy hands upon
the dogmas of religion or the pious prac-
tises fostered by the Church.

Prayer

Loyal son of Holy Mother Church, St.
Albert, do thou obtain for me a spirit of
undivided allegiance to Rome. Help me to



40 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

stop my ears against those who criticize
her words and mistrust her guidance. Ob-
tain for me the light to understand my re-
ligion more profoundly so that I may love
it more deeply. Make my heart strong
against those who in their pride arrogate
the right to find fault with the spiritual

guides whom God has appointed over me.
Make me feel that in this age of apostasy
I can have no higher calling than to be like
thee, a loyal and fearless champion of that
truth which Christ left behind in His
Church and which she has preserved unsul-
lied until this day and will maintain un-
tarnished until the end of time. Make me
believe in my Church and, like a dutiful
and loyal child, share with her all her joys
and sorrows.

Seventh Day

St. Albert and Work

A man who believes that he has no work
to do in this world must necessarily lead an
aimless, pointless existence. He has no
noble ambitions. He has nothing to
call forth his latent talents. There is
no zest in his life. There is nothing on
which he can concentrate his powers. He
is of all beings the most pitiful and de-
spised. No wonder that so many of the
idle rich, filled with ennui for their pur-

poseless existence, commit suicide.



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 41

Our Savior made it very plain that, as a
consequence of the sin of our first parents,

every man must labor in the sweat of his
own brow for an honest, decent living and
existence. He Himself gave the example of
a laborious life not only at Nazareth where
He worked in a carpenter shop but during
the three years of His Public Life when He
spent His physical powers in preaching the
Gospel both in the cities and in the back-
water stretches of the land. At Nazareth
He was never too tired to come to the as-
sistance of St. Joseph and the Blessed
Mother. During His Public Life He was
never too fatigued to go out of His way to
preach the truth or perform a miracle. He
did not even disdain to steal hours from
His sleep in order to instruct a single man,
Nicodemus, in the great mysteries of the
faith. And He left it as an inheritance to
His followers that they must be up and
doing during the hours of the day for the
night cometh when no man can work. He
made it abundantly plain that the glory of
man’s eternity would be conditioned by the
amount of consecrated labor performed in
life.

St. Albert realized well this universal

law of labor. There was never an idle mo-
ment in his life. Not only did he teach
long hours in the classroom, not only did

he preach daily to the people, not only did

he sit for hours at a time in the confes-



42 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

sional but he deprived himself of sleep in
order to compose that vast library of books
which are the admiration of the ages and
are even yet a storehouse of valuable erudi-

tion and suggestive thought. When travel-
ing by foot as Provincial of his Order,
Papal Legate to Poland and Russia and
Preacher of the Crusade, he recited the

psalms when not actually engaged in spirit-
ual conversation with those who gladly
joined with him. At the age of eighty he
undertook the composition of a second
Summa of theology in which he meant to
gather up his best thought for the benefit
of coming generations. His death was the
result of a life of ceaseless consecration to

the tasks of his state of life.

Prayer

St. Albert, thou tireless worker for the

good of souls, do thou help me to realize
that so long as I am about my daily tasks
I am about my Father’s business. The du-
ties of my life were meant by a loving God
to be the means of my spiritual purifica-
tion. Even as Adam and Eve were forced
to labor in the sweat of their brows as a

medicinal remedy against the soul sickness

brought about by the first sin in Eden, so
I have been charged to apply myself to my
daily tasks as a sure means of winning a
heavenly crown. I can sanctify the mean-



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 43

est of my daily tasks by the good intention
of doing all “whether I eat or drink or

whatever else I do” for the glory of the

Name of Jesus. Give me the courage to
return to the monotony of my daily labors
with the firm determination of always do-

ing my best. Obtain for me the grace of
perseverance so that I may carry through
my tasks always for the glory of God, the
good of my own soul and the salvation of
those with whom I live. Let me under-
stand that in work there lies the cure for
the native sloth of my mind and heart and
the sure remedy against the temptations
of the devil. But do thou help me never
to forget that in all I do I must seek to
please my Lord and Master.

Eighth Day

St. Albert and Suffering

Man by nature involuntarily shrinks
from suffering. He casts about on all sides
for means and methods of avoiding or es-
caping it. If it overtake him he proves
himself remarkably resourceful in finding
means of relief and easement.
Our Divine Savior preached the Gospel

of the Cross. He did not shirk labor with
all its fatigue, its monotony and its ex-
haustion. Though He might have re-
deemed the world without undergoing the
Passion He did embrace it eagerly not only



44 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

to save us from our sins but also to show
Himself a model for us in the time of
affliction. He did not complain during the
Passion nor seek any way to escape its
rigors. He did not refuse to accept His
Cross but gladly embraced it. He did not
recoil from the bitterness of death but
drank the chalice to the dregs. And He
laid it down as a fundamental principle
that all who wish partnership with Him
must take up their Cross daily and follow
Him. He sent His Apostles to martyrdom.
He condemns His saints to suffering. He
invites His followers to share in His own
pains. His Gospel is a gospel of hard say-

ings. His religion is a school of penance
and mortification. He assured His fol-
lowers that only by losing their life could
they find it. A crossless Christian must
ever fear that he will one day be a crown-
less Christian.

Gladly St. Albert submitted himself to

the penitential laws of the Church. He ob-
served the fasts and abstinences and took
upon himself penances of his own. As a
Dominican he embraced the rigors of the
rule and added to them incessant labor for
the good of souls. Although a sufferer for

years from chronic rheumatism he crossed

Europe in all directions on foot, even up to
his eightieth year, for the sole purpose of

making known the kingdom of God. No-
where in all his works do we find the least



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 45

reference to this chronic affliction from
which he suffered constantly. As Bishop
of Ratisbon he endured silently the oppo-

sition of those against whose worldly ways
he inveighed so vigorously. Because he

was a man deeply acquainted with suffer-
ing he compassionated those whose bodies
were upon the rack, seeking always to make
them see in their afflictions a loving dispen-
sation of Divine Providence bent on puri-
fying their souls in the crucible of suffer-

ing.

Prayer

True disciple of the crucified Master, St.
Albert, do thou help me to understand that
if I am to have a portion some day with
Christ in heaven, I must needs submit my-
self in this present time to the refining in-

fluence of suffering borne for the love of

God. Let the example of thy life teach me
not to be too indulgent to the flesh lest thus
I imperil my own soul. Give me the cour-
age to rise superior to the effeminate ap-

peals of my own unmortified body so that,
even in the acme of affliction, I may not
curtail the work of my own soul’s sanctifi-
cation and the sanctification of others.
When my body is racked with pain and my
spirit is troubled with worries, help me to
keep my eyes fixed in the direction of
Mount Calvary. Obtain for me the grace
to crucify my flesh now, whether by volun-



46 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

tary mortifications or by a resigned accept-
ance of sufferings sent me, so that I may
entertain the certain hope of rising glorious
from the tomb to enjoy with thee in heaven
the light of my Master’s face.

Ninth Day

The Intercession of St. Albert

Real lovers can never be persuaded that
death is the absolute end of all. It is only
those who have criminally wasted life or
misprized it who look for final extinction.
Death does not separate hearts forever but
binds them more closely together. It is for
this reason that those who really love, hope
one day to be reunited in the land where
separation is unknown.
When Our Divine Savior was about to

depart from this world He promised His
own that He would be of more assistance
to them in the eternal Session at the right
hand of His heavenly Father than in His
physical converse and communion with
them. Because His love for the Apostles
was so great Our Savior inspired them with
the hope that quite unseen He would be
with them always until the end of time,
whispering in their ears words of consola-

tion and courage, of light and love. So
thoroughly convinced were the Apostles of

the nearness of Jesus after His Ascension

that, “rejoicing,” they went back to Jeru-



ST. ALBERT THE GREAT 47

salem and immediately began the work of
converting the world. And if they suc-
ceeded in doing one thing it was to con-
vince their converts that, though unseen by
bodily eyes, Christ walked with men down
the path of life until that turn in the road

where all earthly substance should fall

away and they see Him face to face.
During his lifetime St. Albert revealed

an uncommon capacity for friendship.
Those with whom he came in contact were
easily admitted to the secret cell of his soul.

For him to part with them would have been
a trial beyond words had he not had the
hope and assurance that death would not
put them beyond the pale of his love and
help. If he had assisted them by his
preaching and teaching in this world then,
surely, in the world to come he would min-
ister to them by pleading for them before
the throne of heaven. It is not strange,

therefore, that almost immediately after his

death Albert appeared in glory to at least
four persons who have since been canon-
ized by the Church. The power of his in-
tercession was so great that, within a hun-
dred years of his death, there was question
of enrolling him amongst the saints
because of the many miracles he had
wrought. Down to our own days he has
shown himself the friend of all those who
invoke him. If he was the kind and com-
passionate father of souls during the days



48 ST. ALBERT THE GREAT

of his earthly life then Albert has shown
himself the friend of all those who call
upon him for help. True friend of Jesus
and Mary in life he can obtain almost any-
thing from them now that he is in their
blessed company in heaven.

Prayer

St. Albert who dost not forget in the
heavenly mansions those exiles in this world
who call upon thee for help, look down with
favorable eyes upon me who have recourse
to thee in the many tests and trials of this
life. During thy earthly life thou didst so
order thy days that thou wert found
worthy of being admitted into the divine
presence. Now that thou dost enjoy such
great power before the throne of God make
intercession for me so that, through God’s
mercy, I may receive those things which
will work for my eternal salvation. Since
God does not despise thy prayer fill me
with confidence in the power of thy inter-
cession so that I may come to thee when-
ever I feel that I am not sufficient for my-
self in the great struggle to win a heavenly

crown. Pray God for me that I may fol-
low the example of thy life and thus be
found worthy to enjoy with thee the beati-
fic vision.



LITANY OF ST. ALBERT
(Sixteenth Century) (For Private Use)

Lord, have mercy on us ! Christ, have mercy on us I
Lord, have mercy on us ! Christ, hear us

!

Christ, graciously hear us!
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us!
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy
on us!

God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us!
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us!
Holy Mary,
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of Virgins,
St. Albert,
Man after the heart of God,
Zealous client of Mary,
Worthy son of St. Dominic,
Mighty defender of the Faith,
Solid rock of hope.
Burning Seraphim of love,
Enlightened Cherubim of wisdom.
Valiant defender of justice.
Sure norm of prudence.
Bright mirror of temperance.
Unshakable pillar of fortitude,
Living model of humility.
Shining example of poverty.
Pure lily of chastity.
True model of obedience.
Precious vessel of all virtues.
Zealous imitator of the Apostles,
Bright gem of bishops,
Singular ornament of doctors.
Special glory of thy Order,
Golden treasure of thy Fatherland,
Certain protector of thy clients,
Albert the Great,
In anguish and in need.
In tribulation and in persecution.
In the hour of death,
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the
world, spare us O Lord!

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the
world, hear us, O Lord

!

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the
world, have mercy on us, O Lord!

Christ, have mercy on us

!

Lord, have mercy on us

!

Pray for us St. Albert,
That we may be made worthy of the promises

of Christ!
Prayer

O God who didst richly adorn St. Albert with
Thy heavenly gifts and didst decorate him with
all virtues, grant us, Thy servants, that we may
follow in his footsteps, may persevere in Thy
service until death and securely obtain an ever-
lasting reward through Jesus Christ, Thy Son,
Our Lord. Amen.



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