Known as Albert the Great; scientist, philosopher, and theologian,
born c. 1206; died at Cologne, 15 November 1280. He is called "the
Great", and "Doctor Universalis" (Universal Doctor), in recognition of
his extraordinary genius and extensive knowledge, for he was proficient
in every branch of learning cultivated in his day, and surpassed all his
contemporaries, except perhaps Roger Bacon (1214-94), in the knowledge
of nature. Ulrich Engelbert, a contemporary, calls him the wonder and
the miracle of his age: "Vir in omni scientia adeo divinus, ut nostri
temporis stupor et miraculum congrue vocari possit" (De summo bono, tr.
III, iv).
- I. LIFE
Albert, eldest son of the Count of Bollstädt, was born at Lauingen,
Swabia, in the year 1205 or 1206, though many historians give it as
1193. Nothing certain is known of his primary or preparatory education,
which was received either under the paternal roof or in a school of the
neighbourhood. As a youth he was sent to pursue his studies at the
University of Padua; that city being chosen either because his uncle
resided there, or because Padua was famous for its culture of the
liberal arts, for which the young Swabian had a special predilection.
The date of this journey to Padua cannot be accurately determined. In
the year 1223 he joined the Order of St. Dominic, being attracted by the
preaching of Blessed Jordan of Saxony second Master General of the
Order. Historians do not tell us whether Albert's studies were continued
at Padua, Bologna, Paris, or Cologne. After completing his studies he
taught theology at Hildesheim, Freiburg (Breisgau), Ratisbon, Strasburg,
and Cologne. He was in the convent of Cologne, interpreting Peter
Lombard's "Book of the Sentences", when, in 1245, he was ordered to
repair to Paris. There he received the Doctor's degree in the university
which, above all others, was celebrated as a school of theology. It was
during this period of reaching at Cologne and Paris that he counted
amongst his hearers St. Thomas Aquinas, then a silent, thoughtful youth,
whose genius he recognized and whose future greatness he foretold. The
disciple accompanied his master to Paris in 1245, and returned with him,
in 1248, to the new
Studium Generale of Cologne, in which Albert was appointed Regent, whilst Thomas became second professor and
Magister Studentium
(Master of Students). In 1254 Albert was elected Provincial of his
Order in Germany. He journeyed to Rome in 1256, to defend the Mendicant
Orders against the attacks of William of St. Amour, whose book, "De
novissimis temporum periculis", was condemned by Pope Alexander IV, on 5
October, 1256. During his sojourn in Rome Albert filled the office of
Master of the Sacred Palace (instituted in the time of St. Dominic), and
preached on the Gospel of St. John and the Canonical Epistles. He
resigned the office of Provincial in 1257 in order to devote himself to
study and to teaching. At the General Chapter of the Dominicans held at
Valenciennes in 1250, with St. Thomas Aquinas and Peter of Tarentasia
(afterwards Pope Innocent V), he drew up rules for the direction of
studies, and for determining the system of graduation, in the Order. In
the year 1260 he was appointed Bishop of Ratisbon. Humbert de Romanis,
Master General of the Dominicans, being loath to lose the services of
the great Master, endeavoured to prevent the nomination, but was
unsuccessful. Albert governed the diocese until 1262, when, upon the
acceptance of his resignation, he voluntarily resumed the duties of a
professor in the
Studium at Cologne. In the year 1270 he sent a
memoir to Paris to aid St. Thomas in combating Siger de Brabant and the
Averroists. This was his second special treatise against the Arabian
commentator, the first having been written in 1256, under the title "De
Unitate Intellectus Contra Averroem". He was called by Pope Gregory X to
attend the Council of Lyons (1274) in the deliberations of which he
took an active part. The announcement of the death of St. Thomas at
Fossa Nuova, as he was proceeding to the Council, was a heavy blow to
Albert, and he declared that "The Light of the Church" had been
extinguished. It was but natural that he should have grown to love his
distinguished, saintly pupil, and it is said that ever afterwards he
could not restrain his tears whenever the name of St. Thomas was
mentioned. Something of his old vigour and spirit returned in 1277 when
it was announced that Stephen Tempier and others wished to condemn the
writings of St. Thomas, on the plea that they were too favourable to the
unbelieving philosophers, and he journeyed to Paris to defend the
memory of his disciple. Some time after 1278 (in which year he drew up
his testament) he suffered a lapse of memory; his strong mind gradually
became clouded; his body, weakened by vigils, austerities, and manifold
labours, sank under the weight of years. He was beatified by Pope
Gregory XV in 1622; his feast is celebrated on the 15th of November. The
Bishops of Germany, assembled at Fulda in September, 1872, sent to the
Holy See a petition for his canonization; he was finally canonized in
1931.
- II. WORKS
Two editions of Albert's complete works (Opera Omnia) have been
published; one at Lyons in 1651, in twenty-one folio volumes, edited by
Father Peter Jammy, O.P., the other at Paris (Louis Vivès), 1890-99, in
thirty-eight quarto volumes, published under the direction of the Abbé
Auguste Borgnet, of the diocese of Reims. Paul von Loë gives the
chronology of Albert's writings the "Analecta Bollandiada" (De Vita et
scriptis B. Alb. Mag., XIX, XX, and XXI). The logical order is given by
P. Mandonnet, O.P., in Vacant's "Dictionnaire de théologie catholique".
The following list indicates the subjects of the various treatises, the
numbers referring to the volumes of Borgnet's edition.
Logic: seven treatises (I. 2).
Physical Sciences:
"Physicorum" (3); "De Coelo et Mundo", "De Generatione et Corruptione".
"Meteororum" (4); "Mineralium" (5); "De Natura locorum", " De
passionibus aeris" (9).
Biological: "De vegetabilibus et plantis"
(10) " De animalibus" (11-12); "De motibus animalium", "De nutrimento
et nutribili", "De aetate", "De morte et vita", "De spiritu et
respiratione" (9).
Psychological: "De Anima" (5); "De sensu et
sensato", "De Memoria, et reminiscentia", "De somno et vigilia", "De
natura et origine animae", "De intellectu et intelligibili", "De unitate
intellectus" (9). The foregoing subjects, with the exception of Logic,
are treated compendiously in the "Philosophia pauperum" (5).
Moral and Political: "Ethicorum" (7); "Politocorum (8).
Metaphysical: "Metaphysicorum" (6); "De causis et processu universitatis" (10).
Theological:
"Commentary on the works of Denis the Aereopagite" (14); "Commentary on
the Sentences of the Lombard" (25-30); "Summa Theologiae" (31-33);
"Summa de creaturis" (34-35); "De sacramento Eucharistiae" (38); "Super
evangelium missus est" (37).
Exegetical: "Commentaries on the Psalms and Prophets" (15-19); "Commentaries on the Gospels" (20-24); "On the Apocalypse" (38).
Sermons
(13). The "Quindecim problemata contra Averroistas" was edited by
Mandonnet in his "Siger de Brabant" (Freiburg, 1899). The authenticity
of the following works is not established: "De apprehensione" (5);
"Speculum astronomicum" (5); "De alchimia" (38); Scriptum super arborem
Aristotelis" (38); "Paradisus animae" (37); "Liber de Adhaerendo Deo"
(37); "De Laudibus B. Virginis" (36); "Biblia Mariana" (37).
- III. INFLUENCE
The influence exerted by Albert on the scholars of his own day and on
those of subsequent ages was naturally great. His fame is due in part
to the fact that he was the forerunner, the guide and master of St.
Thomas Aquinas, but he was great in his own name, his claim to
distinction being recognized by his contemporaries and by posterity. It
is remarkable that this friar of the Middle Ages, in the midst of his
many duties as a religious, as provincial of his order, as bishop and
papal legate, as preacher of a crusade, and while making many laborious
journeys from Cologne to Paris and Rome, and frequent excursions into
different parts of Germany, should have been able to compose a veritable
encyclopedia, containing scientific treatises on almost every subject,
and displaying an insight into nature and a knowledge of theology which
surprised his contemporaries and still excites the admiration of learned
men in our own times. He was, in truth, a
Doctor Universalis. Of him it in justly be said:
Nil tetigit quod non ornavit;
and there is no exaggeration in the praises of the modern critic who
wrote: "Whether we consider him as a theologian or as a philosopher,
Albert was undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary men of his age; I
might say, one of the most wonderful men of genius who appeared in past
times" (Jourdain, Recherches Critiques). Philosophy, in the days of
Albert, was a general science embracing everything that could be known
by the natural powers of the mind; physics, mathematics, and
metaphysics. In his writings we do not, it is true, find the distinction
between the sciences and philosophy which recent usage makes. It will,
however, be convenient to consider his skill in the experimental
sciences, his influence on scholastic philosophy, his theology.
- IV. ALBERT AND THE EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES
It is not surprising that Albert should have drawn upon the sources
of information which his time afforded, and especially upon the
scientific writings of Aristotle. Yet he says: "The aim of natural
science is not simply to accept the statements [
narrata] of
others, but to investigate the causes that are at work in nature" (De
Miner., lib. II, tr. ii, i). In his treatise on plants he lays down the
principle:
Experimentum solum certificat in talibus (Experiment
is the only safe guide in such investigations). (De Veg., VI, tr. ii,
i). Deeply versed as he was in theology, he declares: "In studying
nature we have not to inquire how God the Creator may, as He freely
wills, use His creatures to work miracles and thereby show forth His
power: we have rather to inquire what Nature with its immanent causes
can naturally bring to pass" (De Coelo et Mundo, I, tr. iv, x). And
though, in questions of natural science, he would prefer Aristotle to
St. Augustine (In 2, Sent. dist. 13, C art. 2), he does not hesitate to
criticize the Greek philosopher. "Whoever believes that Aristotle was a
god, must also believe that he never erred. But if one believe that
Aristotle was a man, then doubtless he was liable to error just as we
are." (Physic. lib. VIII, tr. 1, xiv). In fact Albert devotes a lengthy
chapter to what he calls "the errors of Aristotle" (Sum. Theol. P. II,
tr. i, quaest. iv). In a word, his appreciation of Aristotle is
critical. He deserves credit not only for bringing the scientific
teaching of the Stagirite to the attention of medieval scholars, but
also for indicating the method and the spirit in which that teaching was
to be received. Like his contemporary, Roger Bacon (1214-94), Albert
was an indefatigable student of nature, and applied himself
energetically to the experimental sciences with such remarkable success
that he has been accused of neglecting the sacred sciences (Henry of
Ghent, De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, II, x). Indeed, many legends have
been circulated which attribute to him the power of a magician or
sorcerer. Dr. Sighart (Albertus Magnus) examined these legends, and
endeavoured to sift the truth from false or exaggerated stories. Other
biographers content themselves with noting the fact that Albert's
proficiency in the physical sciences was the foundation on which the
fables were constructed. The truth lies between the two extremes. Albert
was assiduous in cultivating the natural sciences; he was an authority
on physics, geography, astronomy, mineralogy, chemistry (
alchimia),
zoölogy, physiology, and even phrenology. On all these subjects his
erudition was vast, and many of his observations are of permanent value.
Humboldt pays a high tribute to his knowledge of physical geography
(Cosmos, II, vi). Meyer writes (Gesch. der Botanik): "No botanist who
lived before Albert can be compared with him, unless it be Theophrastus,
with whom he was not acquainted; and after him none has painted nature
in such living colours, or studied it so profoundly, until the time of
Conrad, Gesner, and Cesalpini. All honour, then, to the man who made
such astonishing progress in the science of nature as to find no one, I
will not say to surpass, but even to equal him for the space of three
centuries." The list of his published works is sufficient vindication
from the charge of neglecting theology and the Sacred Scriptures. On the
other hand, he expressed contempt for everything that savoured of
enchantment or the art of magic: "Non approbo dictum Avicennae et
Algazel de fascinatione, quia credo quod non nocet fascinatio, nec
nocere potest ars magica, nec facit aliquid ex his quae timentur de
talibus" (See Quétif, I, 167). That he did not admit the possibility of
making gold by alchemy or the use of the philosopher's stone, is evident
from his own words: "Art alone cannot produce a substantial form". (Non
est probatum hoc quod educitur de plumbo esse aurum, eo quod sola ars
non potest dare formam substantialem — De Mineral., lib. II, dist. 3).
Roger Bacon and Albert proved to the world that the Church is not
opposed to the study of nature, that faith and science may go hand in
hand; their lives and their writings emphasize the importance of
experiment and investigation. Bacon was indefatigable and bold in
investigating; at times, too, his criticism was sharp. But of Albert he
said: "Studiosissimus erat, et vidit infinita, et habuit expensum, et
ideo multa potuit colligere in pelago auctorum infinito" (Opera, ed.
Brewer, 327). Albert respected authority and traditions, was prudent in
proposing the results of his investigations, and hence "contributed far
more than Bacon did to the advancement of science in the thirteenth
century" (Turner, Hist. of Phil.). His method of treating the sciences
was historical and critical. He gathered into one vast encyclopedia all
that was known in his day, and then expressed his own opinions,
principally in the form of commentaries on the works of Aristotle.
Sometimes, however, he hesitates, and does not express his own opinion,
probably because he feared that his theories, which were "advanced" for
those times, would excite surprise and occasion unfavourable comment.
"Dicta peripateticorum, prout melius potui exposui: nec aliquis in eo
potest deprehendere quid ego ipse sentiam in philosophia naturali" (De
Animalibus, circa finem). In Augusta Theodosia Drane's excellent work on
"Christian Schools and Scholars" (419 sqq.) there are some interesting
remarks on "a few scientific views of Albert, which show how much he
owed to his own sagacious observation of natural phenomena, and how far
he was in advance of his age. . . ." In speaking of the British Isles,
he alluded to the commonly received idea that another Island — Tile, or
Thule — existed in the Western Ocean, uninhabitable by reason of its
frightful clime, "but which", he says, has perhaps not yet been visited
by man". Albert gives an elaborate demonstration of the sphericity of
the earth; and it has been pointed out that his views on this subject
led eventually to the discovery of America (cf. Mandonnet, in "Revue
Thomiste", I, 1893; 46-64, 200-221).
- V. ALBERT AND SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY
More important than Albert's development of the physical sciences was
his influence on the study of philosophy and theology. He, more than
any one of the great scholastics preceding St. Thomas, gave to Christian
philosophy and theology the form and method which, substantially, they
retain to this day. In this respect he was the forerunner and master of
St. Thomas, who excelled him, however, in many qualities required in a
perfect Christian Doctor. In marking out the course which other
followed, Albert shared the glory of being a pioneer with Alexander of
Hales (d. 1245), whose "Summa Theologiae" was the first written after
all the works of Aristotle had become generally known at Paris. Their
application of Aristotelean methods and principles to the study of
revealed doctrine gave to the world the scholastic system which embodies
the reconciliation of reason and Orthodox faith. After the unorthodox
Averroes, Albert was the chief commentator on the works of, Aristotle,
whose writings he studied most assiduously, and whose principles he
adopted, in order to systematize theology, by which was meant a
scientific exposition and defence of Christian doctrine. The choice of
Aristotle as a master excited strong opposition. Jewish and Arabic
commentaries on the works of the Stagirite had given rise to so many
errors in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries that for
several years (1210-25) the study of Aristotle's Physics and Metaphysics
was forbidden at Paris. Albert, however, knew that Averroes, Abelard,
Amalric, and others had drawn false doctrines from the writings of the
Philosopher; he knew, moreover, that it would have been impossible to
stem the tide of enthusiasm in favour of philosophical studies; and so
he resolved to purify the works of Aristotle from Rationalism,
Averroism, Pantheism, and other errors, and thus compel pagan philosophy
to do service in the cause of revealed truth. In this he followed the
canon laid down by St. Augustine (II De Doct. Christ., xl), who declared
that truths found in the writings of pagan philosophers were to be
adopted by the defenders of the true faith, while their erroneous
opinions were to be abandoned, or explained in a Christian sense. (See
St. Thomas, Summa Theol., I, Q. lxxxiv, a. 5.) All inferior (natural)
sciences should be the servants (
ancillae) of Theology, which is
the superior and the mistress (ibid., 1 P., tr. 1, quaest. 6). Against
the rationalism of Abelard and his followers Albert pointed out the
distinction between truths naturally knowable and mysteries (e.g. the
Trinity and the Incarnation) which cannot known without revelation
(ibid., 1 P., tr. III, quaest. 13). We have seen that he wrote two
treatises against Averroism, which destroyed individual immortality and
individual responsibility, by teaching that there is but one rational
soul for all men. Pantheism was refuted along with Averroism when the
true doctrine on Universals, the system known as moderate Realism, was
accepted by the scholastic philosophers. This doctrine Albert based upon
the Distinction of the universal
ante rem (an idea or archetype in the mind of God),
in re (existing or capable of existing in many individuals), and
post rem
(as a concept abstracted by the mind, and compared with the individuals
of which it can be predicated). "Universale duobus constituitur,
natura, scilicet cui accidit universalitas, et respectu ad multa. qui
complet illam in natura universalis" (Met., lib. V, tr. vi, cc. v, vi).
A.T. Drane (Mother Raphael, O.S.D.) gives a remarkable explanation of
these doctrines (op. cit. 344-429). Though follower of Aristotle, Albert
did not neglect Plato. "Scias quod non perficitur homo in philosophia,
nisi scientia duarum philosophiarum, Aristotelis et Platonis (Met., lib.
I, tr. v, c. xv). It is erroneous to say that he was merely the "Ape" (
simius)
of Aristotle. In the knowledge of Divine things faith precedes the
understanding of Divine truth, authority precedes reason (I Sent., dist.
II, a. 10); but in matters that can be naturally known a philosopher
should not hold an opinion which he is not prepared to defend by reason
ibid., XII; Periherm., 1, I, tr. l, c. i). Logic, according to Albert,
was a preparation for philosophy teaching how we should use reason in
order to pass from the known to the unknown: "Docens qualiter et per
quae devenitur per notum ad ignoti notitiam" (De praedicabilibus, tr. I,
c. iv). Philosophy is either contemplative or practical. Contemplative
philosophy embraces physics, mathematics, and metaphysics; practical
(moral) plilosophy is monastic (for the individual), domestic (for the
family), or political (for the state, or society). Excluding physics,
now a special study, authors in our times still retain the old
scholastic division of philosophy into logic, metaphysics (general and
special), and ethics.
- VI. ALBERT'S THEOLOGY
In theology Albert occupies a place between Peter Lombard, the Master
of the Sentences, and St. Thomas Aquinas. In systematic order, in
accuracy and clearness he surpasses the former, but is inferior to his
own illustrious disciple. His "Summa Theologiae" marks an advance beyond
the custom of his time in the scientific order observed, in the
elimination of useless questions, in the limitation of arguments and
objections; there still remain, however, many of the
impedimenta,
hindrances, or stumbling blocks, which St. Thomas considered serious
enough to call for a new manual of theology for the use of beginners —
ad eruditionem incipientium, as the Angelic Doctor modestly remarks in the prologue of his immortal "Summa". The mind of the
Doctor Universalis
was so filled with the knowledge of many things that he could not
always adapt his expositions of the truth to the capacity of novices in
the science of theology. He trained and directed a pupil who gave the
world a concise, clear, and perfect scientific exposition and defence of
Christian Doctrine; under God, therefore, we owe to Albertus Magnus the
"Summa Theologica" of St. Thomas.
D.J. KENNEDY (Catholic Encyclopedia)
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