Notable Quote: “Love Supplies” by St. Albert the Great

St. Albert the Great (1200-1280) was a Dominican friar and Bishop, famously known for being the teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas.  Born in Germany, he was one of the first to learn of Aristotle’s writings after western Europe had lost them.  He became a translator and teacher of Aristotle, which was very influential and consequential to St. Thomas.  Like Aristotle he was fascinated with the natural world, and a good deal of his writings might be classified as some of the earliest scientific writings in the west since the collapse of Rome.  His Wikipedia entry says the following:  

 

Albert was a scientist, philosopher, astrologer, theologian, spiritual writer, ecumenist, and diplomat. Under the auspices of Humbert of Romans, Albert molded the curriculum of studies for all Dominican students, introduced Aristotle to the classroom and probed the work of Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus. Indeed, it was the thirty years of work done by Aquinas and himself that allowed for the inclusion of Aristotelian study in the curriculum of Dominican schools.

His learning and his writing spanned great range of subject and depth of knowledge.  Not only is he a canonized saint, but a Doctor of the Church.  Humbert of Romans, mentioned above, who was the fifth Master General of the Dominican Order said the following of his fellow friar, Albertus Magnus.   

 

This celebrated man, Brother Albert, seems like the tree of life planted in the center of terrestrial paradise, bearing incessantly the fruits of honor grace.  In outward appearance he was of noble stature, and endowed with great physical strength.  His body was well proportioned, and perfectly fitted for all the fatigues of God’s service.  From the day when he entered the Order he walked courageously in the path of justice, by the observance of its Rule and the mortification of his flesh, seeking thus by a long martyrdom to triumph over the solicitations of the enemy.  He frequently passed the nights in prayer, and his sublime contemplation offered himself a holocaust on the altar of the heart.  In the morning he celebrated the Divine Mysteries with the greatest purity of soul and the most ardent love.  He was incessantly occupied either in read, writing, dictating, preaching, or hearing confessions.  He never allowed his mind to repose where there was question of divine works.  And as wisdom cannot enter into an evil soul, nor dwell in a body that is enslaved to sin, he ever preserved the purity of his conscience, that he might read with fruit the Holy Scriptures, which he passionately loved.  Consumed with the fire of charity, he labored for the salvation of his neighbor with untold success.  The example of his life, his angelic piety, his stupendous learning, and his indefatigable zeal in uprooting error procured him an incredible influence, not only in Germany, but in almost every part of the earth.  (quoted from Albert the Great: The First Universal Doctor by Fr. Thomas Schwertner, O.P., Mediatrix Press, 2018, p. 279-80)

What a tribute.  The stature of Albert the Great is immense and should have a wider dissemination.  November 15 the was his feast day, and the devotional magazine, Magnificat, quoted a passage for meditation from one of St. Albert’s writings, On Union with God.  I’m going to take one paragraph from that meditation as a notable quote.

 

All that we need so far described, all that is necessary for salvation, can find in love alone its highest, completest, most beneficent perfection.  Love supplies all that is wanting for our salvation; it contains abundantly every good thing and lacks not even the presence of the supreme object of our desires.  It is by love alone that we turn to God, are transformed into his likeness, and are united to him, so that we become one spirit with him and receive by and from him all our happiness: here [on earth] in grace, hereafter in glory.  Love can find no rest until it reposes in the full and perfect possession of the Beloved.  It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws closer to man, and man to God.  But where love is not found God cannot dwell.  If, then, we possess love we possess God, for God is love (1 Jn 4:8).

He sounds a lot like St. Augustine of Hippo in his Confessions.  Well, great minds think alike.  St. Albert lived a long life, actually outliving his most famous student, St. Thomas (1225-1274).  Can you imagine those three men in heaven discussing the beatific vision?  How I would love to be at their feet to overhear.

St. Albert the Great, pray for us.