On Cleaving to God


Book Description

This famous and much loved little treatise, On Cleaving to God, (De Adhaerendo Deo) has always been attributed to Saint Albert the Great, who lived from about 1200 to 1280, and was one of the most respected theologians of his time.




St. Albert the Great


Book Description

St. Albert the Great, though he was a medieval man, is strikingly modern. No branch of knowledge escaped his eye. His writings cover every field of knowledge. Albert, one of the Medieval period's greatest saints, is often in the shadow of his greatest student, St. Thomas Aquinas. Yet, just as we cannot speak of an Augustine without an Ambrose, we cannot see a St. Thomas without St. Albert. In Schwertner's biography, you can learn more about the why St. Albert, the Universal Doctor, is called the great. He pioneered science and the scientific method in an age suspicious of them. He was a brilliant philosopher and theologian, being one of the greatest scholastics of the medieval universities. A consummate teacher, he did much to aid the reform of the Dominican Order in Germany, and as Bishop of Regensburg, was a model shepherd.




On the Body of the Lord


Book Description

Chapter 4: That this sacrament causes communion in the sufferings of the mystical body -- Chapter 5: That this sacrament causes material assistance in works of mercy -- Chapter 6: That this sacrament makes common all that is ours of both spiritual and material things -- Chapter 7: That this sacrament causes the truest communion of the divine and the human -- Distinction Five: Sacrifice -- Chapter 1: About the authority and antiquity of this sacrifice -- Chapter 2: About the holiness of this sacrifice -- Chapter 3: About the acceptableness of this sacrifice -- Chapter 4: About the truth of this sacrifice -- Distinction Six: Sacrament -- Tractate 1: About the institution of this sacrament -- Chapter 1: About the reason for the institution of this sacrament -- Chapter 2: About the necessity for the institution of this sacrament -- Chapter 3: About the time of the institution of this sacrament -- Chapter 4: About the mode of the institution of this sacrament -- Tractate 2: About the matter and form of this sacrament -- Chapter 1: About the matter of this sacrament -- Chapter 2: About the form of the sacrament over the bread -- Chapter 3: About the form that is spoken over the wine -- Chapter 4: About things following both forms -- Tractate 3: What in this sacrament is the sacrament alone, and what are the reality and the sacrament, and what is the reality without the sacrament? -- Chapter 1 -- Tractate 4: In which the rite of this sacrament is treated -- Chapter 1: About the rite of this sacrament on Christ's part -- Chapter 2: About the rite of this sacrament on the minister's part -- Chapter 3: About the rite of this sacrament on the recipient's part -- III. Indices -- General Index -- Index of Holy Scripture




The Valiant Woman


Book Description

This splendid example of medieval scriptural interpretation shows us how the "spiritual sense" of scripture enriched the minds of the faithful and warmed their hearts. The literal and historical sense of the passage in Proverbs 31, which is known as the Valiant Woman, is a eulogy for a faithful Jewish wife and mother, who stands out above others for her strength. The spiritual sense, using analogy, meticulous divisions, and proof texts from scripture, finds in this acrostic poem, a catalyst for exploring the deepest mysteries of redemption, the mystical union of the risen Christ, the Husband, with his faithful Church his Bride, seen as the Valiant Woman. By extension, it is also the faithful soul, imitating the Church, experiencing the adventure of seeking the beloved and eternal happiness. St. Albert the Great puts his imagination to service in the understanding of every Christian's spiritual quest. Every verse, every chapter, opens a new vision of the Valiant Woman. Why the Church should be understood as a woman(ch. 1); how her Husband trusts in her(2); how they repay each other (3); symbols of wool and flax, and the work of her hands (4); she is a ship (5); nights and banquets (6); olives, fields, and vineyards (7); her arm and her strength (8); taste and sight, her lamp (9); wrestling with vices, her fingers (10); stretching out to the poor (11); her house in snow, her servants doubly clothed (12); her tapestry of the passion (13); Christ and the gates of Jerusalem (14); linen garments (15); her strength, fortitude and laughter (16); her "mouth" and "tongue" (17); her house (18); blessed like the sons of Jacob (19); her "riches" (20); how praised (21); fruits of the spirit, in the gates (22). Sometimes amusing, always amazing, and profound in its spiritual wisdom, "The Valiant Woman" is a fruitful experience for the reader and a welcome addition to the translations of medieval scriptural commentaries.




Hounds of the Lord


Book Description

They are called “Hounds of the Lord,” and “Stoics on spiritual steroids.” For 800 years they have barked out Christ’s gospel message, saving countless souls and showing us how to think, do, and love for the glory of God. Inspired by the stories of their saints, we join the Dominicans in celebrating the Jubilee of their first 800 years. In these pages, we draw inspiration and spiritual strength from the lives, lessons, and legacies of their intellectual giants and enrapt mystics, the men and women who scrubbed floors, and those who cared for the dying. You’ll discover countless fascinating and pious stories, prophetic dreams and visions, apparitions of Christ and Our Lady, appearances of the devil in disguise, miraculous healings, episodes of bi-location, stigmata, incorruption after death, and more. From St. Thomas Aquinas to St. Martin de Porres, in story after story you’ll see how God favored these holy men and women in so many surprising and supernatural ways. Even 800 years later, these Hounds of the Lord are still out there today, roaming the world, seeking out souls to retrieve for Christ. Open this book, and you’ll be given a taste of that glorious and joyful spirit that animates the Dominican Order — a spirit they have so long and so willingly shared with the rest of the world. Let their example serve as inspiration, and let loose the hounds of the Lord within you.




A Pattern for Life


Book Description

There has recently been much discussion, indeed argument, regarding the suitability of the Rule of St. Albert for the Carmelite Laity. In the book, the author, former praeses of the Institutum Carmelitanum in Rome and lecturer in Carmelite history and spirituality, presents a powerful defense of the suitability of Albert's Pattern for Life for all Carmelites-- laity and religious alike. In both settting a historical context for the Rule and providing a practical commentary for the laity, the author demonstrates that it is adherence to the Rule that defines a Carmelite and gives each a Carmelite identity.




St. Albert the Great


Book Description

Even while he was still alive, Dominican friar Albert of Cologne was widely called Magnus the Great. His contemporaries said St. Albert simply knew all there was to know; he was a scientist, theologian, and philosopher; a teacher, preacher, and negotiator; a shrewd shepherd and an unflinching defender of the Faith. The time has come to re-discover St. Albert's greatness, and to profit from his prodigious wisdom and virtue as did his famous student, St. Thomas Aquinas. Author Kevin Vost presents St. Albert's brilliant scholarly career at the height of the Church's intellectual renewal in the thirteenth century. St. Albert was tireless (and courageous) in his leadership and works of reform as a Dominican provincial and diocesan bishop. Desperate popes pressed him into diplomatic missions, hoping that Magnus might succeed in making peace where lesser men had failed. These pages not only tell St. Albert's story they share his lessons. Each chapter uses Albertine teachings, and the witness of the saint's life, to instruct, edify, and inspire us to greater holiness and more ardent love. Read St. Albert and see why the greatest man of his age has great things to offer our age as well.




A Companion to Albert the Great


Book Description

Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus; d. 1280) is one of the most prolific authors of the Middle Ages, and the only scholar to be known as “the Great” during his own lifetime. As the only Scholastic to to have commented upon all the works of Aristotle, Albert is also known as the Universal Doctor (Doctor Universalis) for his encyclopedic intellect, which enabled him to make important contributions not only to Christian theology but also to natural science and philosophy. The contributions to this omnibus volume will introduce students of philosophy, science, and theology to the current state of research and multiple perspectives on the work of Albert the Great. Contributors include Jan A. Aertsen, Henryk Anzulewicz, Benedict M. Ashley, Miguel de Asúa, Steven Baldner, Amos Bertolacci, Thérèse Bonin, Maria Burger, Markus Führer, Dagmar Gottschall, Jeremiah Hackett, Anthony Lo Bello, Isabelle Moulin, Timothy Noone, Mikołaj Olszewski, B.B. Price, Irven M. Resnick, Francisco J. Romero Carrasquillo, H. Darrel Rutkin, Steven C. Snyder, Michael W. Tkacz, Martin J. Tracey, Bruno Tremblay, David Twetten, Rosa E. Vargas and Gilla Wöllmer




Disenchanting Albert the Great


Book Description

Albert the Great (1200–1280) was a prominent Dominican friar, a leading philosopher, and the teacher of Thomas Aquinas. He also endorsed the use of magic. Controversial though that stance would have been, Albert was never punished or repudiated for what he wrote. Albert’s reception followed instead a markedly different course, leading ultimately to his canonization by the Catholic Church in 1931. But his thoughts about magic have been debated for centuries. Disenchanting Albert the Great takes Albert’s contested reputation as a case study for the long and complex history surrounding the concept of magic and magic’s relationship to science and religion. Over the centuries, Albert was celebrated for his magic, or it was explained away—but he was never condemned. In the fifteenth century, members of learned circles first attempted to distance Albert from magic, with the goal of exonerating him of superstition, irrationality, and immorality. Disenchanting Albert the Great discusses the philosopher’s own understanding of magic; an early, adulatory phase of his reputation as a magician; and the three primary strategies used to exonerate Albert over the centuries. In the end, Disenchanting Albert the Great tells the story of a thirteenth-century scholar who worked to disenchant the natural world with his ideas about magic but who himself would not be disenchanted until the modern era. This accessible and insightful history will appeal to those interested in Albert the Great, Catholic Church history, the history of magic, and Western understandings of the natural and the rational over time.




The Concept of Woman


Book Description

This pioneering study by Sister Prudence Allen traces the concept of woman in relation to man in more than seventy philosophers from ancient and medieval traditions. The fruit of ten years' work, this study uncovers four general categories of questions asked by philosophers for two thousand years. These are the categories of opposites, of generation, of wisdom, and of virtue. Sister Prudence Allen traces several recurring strands of sexual and gender identity within this period. Ultimately, she shows the paradoxical influence of Aristotle on the question of woman and on a philosophical understanding of sexual coomplemenarity. Supplemented throughout with helpful charts, diagrams, and illustrations, this volume will be an important resource for scholars and students in the fields of women's studies, philosophy, history, theology, literary studies, and political science.