Blessed Albert the Great

However, the time had come to make a decision. Albert had remained long enough under the beautiful peristyle of the general sciences; he was reaching the age where he had to seriously think about the future and choose between the study of law, which would lead him to the highest political dignities, and the service of the altars, whose horizons were no less splendid. There existed in the latter domain a career of which he had often thought, the religious life, which attracted his beautiful and great soul with its mysterious charms. Moral sufferings, those formidable precursors of a new life, then caused him strange struggles. Our Blessed one reflected incessantly on the position that was destined for him in the world, without ever being able to decide anything. He did not count on himself; but he turned to God with tears and implored Him to make his true vocation known to him. One day, while he was in the Dominican church, the Blessed Virgin, before whose statue he had knelt, seemed to address these words to him: "Albert, my son! Leave the world and enter the Order of Preachers, whose foundation I obtained from my divine Son for the sal Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs Mendicant religious order founded by Saint Dominic. vation of the world. You will apply yourself courageously to the sciences there according to the prescriptions of the Rule, and God will fill you with such wisdom that the entire Church will be illuminated by the books of your erudition." It was therefore at the feet of the Blessed Virgin that Albert's future was decided. He resolved to leave this ocean of the world, so fertile in shipwrecks, and to take refuge in the secure port of monastic life.

But this project was difficult to realize; insurmountable obstacles stood before him. The uncle whom he cherished with the affection of a son, and who replaced, it seems, his father, was far from approving his nephew's plans. He forbade him any communication with the Dominican friars and extracted from him the promise that he would not carry out his design until after a determined time.

However, the Blessed Jordan of Saxony, th e disciple and successor of bienheureux Jourdain de Saxe Successor of Saint Dominic who received Albert into the order. Saint Dominic, had just arrived from Bologna. Few men in history have possessed as much as he did the marvelous talent of attracting souls.

The news of his presence having soon spread throughout the city, a prodigious number of listeners, among whom was Albert, invaded the church of the Friars Preachers to taste his doctrine, sweeter than honey. The famous preacher, having thus mounted the pulpit, painted in such inflamed strokes and with such heavenly enthusiasm the traps used by Satan to divert men from the care of their salvation, that Albert was deeply shaken and suddenly felt an admirable courage born within him to put his project into execution. This time he hesitated no longer; hardly was the eloquent sermon finished than, breaking every shackle, he flew to the door of the monastery, threw himself at the knees of Father Jordan, crying out: "Father, you have read into my soul!" and he asked with tears for his admission into the Order. It must be said that the days of trial determined by his uncle, and which Albert had promised to keep faithfully, had elapsed. Jordan of Saxony, whose keen eye had been trained by his long dealings with youth, immediately recognized what Albert would become. He received him with joy and gave him the habit. This took place in the year 1223.

Our young nobleman had reached the goal of his most ardent desires. The opulent student, already famous for his learning, who had for so long walked the streets of Padua with all the luxury of the wealthy of the century, and who had lived in the midst of abundance in a marble palace, had become a poor monk. What a change! He had freely, and for the love of God, renounced all earthly goods, the pleasures, and the hopes that the world could offer him! But did he not find a rich compensation in the joys of the spirit with which the silence of the cloister, his more intimate relations with God, and the peaceful cultivation of the sacred sciences were to intoxicate him? He could not, moreover, remain any longer in Padua; for theological studies did not yet flourish there, and the presence of his parents could be an inconvenience. He was therefore sent to Bologna to complete his studies and acquire divine science. The convent of Saint-Nicholas, the second cradle of the Order, had for some years possessed the mortal remains of the holy Patriarch who, during his life, loved to inhabit it: it was there that this new disciple gathered the strength necessary for the construction of a magnificent and gigantic edifice, that of a universal and Christian science. He received there the lessons of the most famous professors of a university that passed for the second center of the scientific world.

His truly extraordinary progress immediately placed him in high regard among the scholars, and people went to him as to an oracle to have the solution to the most thorny questions. Finally, he was no longer called Brother Albert, but, by excellence, the philosopher. His superiors, not wanting such a brilliant light to remain without communicating itself, sent him to their convent in Cologne to teach philosophy and theology immediately. He did so with the general applause of all that city, which could not rejoice enough to see itself enlightened by this new sun. What was most admired in him was that he joined to this profound erudition, which attracted everyone to his school, a simplicity, a modesty, and a prodigious humility. He had only very low sentiments of himself; he despised himself and sought only to be despised; he looked upon himself as the last of the brothers and he also wanted to be treated as the last. Moreover, his studies and his other great occupations did not prevent him from being exact in his spiritual exercises; and it is even said that besides the Holy Mass, the hours of the Great and Little Office, and the Rosary, he never failed to recite the one hundred and fifty Psalms of David every day. He also regularly practiced mental prayer, and it was there that he drew his highest lights and those admirable conceptions that he then put into writing, or that he explained to his disciples.

From Cologne he went to teach in Hildesheim, in Saxony, in Freiburg, in Regensburg, and in Strasbourg, and he succeeded there no less than in Cologne. It would be too long to go into the detail of everything that happened to him in all these cities; but it must not be omitted that in the year 1237, the Blessed Jordan, General of the Order, having died while returning from the Holy Land, Albert held his place until the election of his successor, which took place the day after Pentecost in the year 1238. He was proposed for this distinguished prelacy, although he was still only thirty-three years old, with the great Hugh of Saint-Cher, who was later a cardinal; but as each of them defended himself with all his might and solicited powerfully for his companion, the votes were divided equally, and finally Saint Raymond of Pennafort was elected, who, not being at the chapter, could not make the same pleas to be exempted from this charge. This was undoubtedly a great stroke of divine Providence, which, wanting our Blessed one to be the master of the angelic doctor Saint Thomas, did not permit him to be engaged in the thorny office of General, which would have prevented him from continuing his lessons. After the conclusion of the Chapter, he made a trip to Barcelona to place with joy, into the hands of Saint Raymond, the seals of the Order that were intended for him.

From there he returned to Cologne, and it was at this time that he had as a disciple the one who was to be the eagle of doctors, the angel o l'aigle des docteurs Saint cited as an example of resistance to temptation. f the school, and the oracle of the world. At first, his humility and his love for silence making him not appear in disputes, his companions gave him the nickname of the dumb ox; but our Blessed one, having discovered the subtlety of his mind, the depth of his judgment, and the advantage of his memory, predicted that this ox would bellow so loudly that he would be heard by the whole earth.

It was very appropriate that the University of Paris should no Université de Paris Place of birth, ministry, and death of the saint. t be deprived of the happiness of having Albert as one of its doctors. He was therefore sent there, and, after having received the cap there, he mounted the chair to display the treasures of erudition with which his soul was filled. The schools were soon found to be too small to contain the infinite number of listeners who flocked to take his lessons and profit from his doctrine. He had to teach in a public square, so that no one would be deprived of this consolation. This was the square that has retained his name, and which, by abbreviation, is called the place Maubert Public teaching site in Paris named after him. Place Maubert, instead of saying the place of Master Albert.

Cologne then requested him again and he returned there for the third time, in order to send his dear disciple Saint Thomas to take his degrees in Paris. But when he was thinking only of composing those learned treatises with which he enriched the Church, the Fathers of his province of Germany, having assembled at Worms, elected him as their Provincial and charged him, despite himself, with their leadership. He did everything he could to not be confirmed in his new functions; but, having failed to succeed, he applied himself with marvelous courage to perfectly fulfill all the duties of this prelacy. This province was of very great extent, since it included Austria, Swabia, Bavaria, Saxony, and the surroundings of the Rhine and the Moselle, and it even extended into Holland and Brabant; this, however, did not prevent him from visiting it entirely on foot and without any travel provisions, but by begging for alms; which was a great example for the other superiors of his Order. He instructed his religious more by his example than by his words; but he did not fail, when necessary, to join justice and severity with gentleness; and he made this well apparent with regard to a lay brother who was found, after his death, to have died a property owner; for, having had him exhumed, he had him thrown into a profane place, not judging worthy of a sacred burial one who had violated, through sacrilege, the solemn vow of religious poverty.

He received, around the same time, an apostolic mission to travel to Poland, in order to abolish there some customs that had remained from paganism, namely: to kill children who were born with natural defects, or who exceeded the number that could be fed, and the elderly who could no longer act: which he executed with great success. He was then called by Pope Alexander IV, and it was there that, in his capacity as Master of the Sacred Palace, he publi cly explained the pape Alexandre IV Pope who summoned Albert to Rome. Gospel and the Epistles of Saint John, and that he refuted the errors of William of Saint-Amour, who, in fighting the institution of the mendicant Orders , wanted to take away fr Guillaume de Saint-Amour Opponent of the mendicant orders refuted by Albert. om the Church that great number of Saints, readers, evangelical preachers, and learned theologians that these Orders have given it.

The Pope often wished to raise him to the episcopal dignity; but he always had the skill to excuse himself until, having returned to Germany to attend the provincial Chapter of his province, which was being held in Strasbourg, he was elected Bishop of Regensbur évêque de Ratisbonne Episcopal see occupied by Albert. g. This election caused him much bitterness, because, on one hand, his humility made him believe that he was not capable of such a high prelacy, and on the other, his inclination leading him to write, to teach, and to compose, he found it difficult to see himself removed from his occupations by the burden of external affairs; but it was not possible for him to defend himself against this blow. He therefore received the pontifical consecration, and he applied himself to all the duties of a true pastor. He often preached to his people, he formed his ecclesiastics, he reproved sinners, he encouraged the good to persevere, he showed all his diocesans the paths of salvation. He regulated his expenses so well that, having found his bishopric stripped of all things and considerably in debt, he paid all its debts and increased its income, without failing to give considerable alms to the poor. Notwithstanding these great occupations, the historians of his life assure us that he composed, in his episcopal castle of Stauff, his distinguished work on Saint Luke, which is one of the most beautiful and richest that have come from his pen.

However, this pastoral charge weighed extremely heavily on his shoulders, and he groaned continually at no longer being in the secret of his cloister and his cell. Thus, he made so many requests to Pope Urban IV that he finally obtained permission to relinquish his bishopric. This was only to return as a simple religious with his brethren, and to go to continue in Cologne the primary exercises of meditation and the composition of books on Scripture and theology. He then received a new mission from the sovereign Pontiff to preach the crusade in Germany; and he did so with marvelous success, having led a great number of lords and all sorts of people to undertake the journey to Palestine to deliver the holy places from the hand of the infidels. Scarcely had he finished this journey when Gregory X, successor to Urban, summoned him to the Council of Lyon, where Saint Bonaventure, Saint Thomas, and many other luminaries of the Church were also called. When he was preparing to leave, being at table with the religious on March 7, 1274, which was the day of the death of Saint Thomas, tears came to his eyes, and he cried out that the Church was losing on this day one of its greatest lights. In this council, he was admired for a learned discourse he gave on the words of Isaiah: "God will send them a savior and a defender who will deliver them." And as he was acting as orator for Emperor Rudolph, he obtained from the assembled bishops everything that this emperor desired.

He then returned to Cologne, where he was always employed in great affairs. He enriched his convent with three hundred holy bodies and several other relics; especially a thorn from the crown of Our Lord and a part of his cross given by King Saint Louis. He reconciled lords who were in conflict. He often performed episcopal functions in the diocese with marvelous fervor and zeal. He especially employed his pen to write excellent treatises in honor of the Blessed Virgin. Several authors assure that this Queen of angels, to give him more ease in this composition, appeared to him in the incomparable state of her beauty.

Finally, as the time of his death approached, while he was delivering a learned discourse in the presence of a multitude of listeners, he suddenly lost his memory, following the warning that the Virgin herself had given him during his novitiate; this was for him a reason to discover this mystery and to warn the audience that the end of his life was not far off. From that moment on, the thought of deliverance was constantly present in Albert's soul. He had always wished that his body could rest in the shadow of the cross, in the midst of his brothers, in the city of Cologne. He hoped to be able, on the day of the general resurrection, to go to meet his Judge with all those Saints among whom so many thousands of martyrs await the coming of their Lord. That is why he had long since chosen, following the example of the ancient just, the place of his rest in the church of his monastery. He visited his tomb every day and said the Vigils of the dead for himself as if for a man already dead to the world. He also visited the altars and tombs of the Saints. He greeted them devoutly from afar as fellow citizens and friends of his God, and implored them with tears to help him with their charitable intercession.

The great servant of God was thus sighing for his deliverance when the hour of his supreme departure sounded; and the illustrious scholar, broken by old age and fatigue, heard this consoling word descend from heaven: "Courage, good and faithful servant, come and share in the joy of your Master!" After having received the sacraments of the Church with admirable feelings of devotion, he rendered, in his cell, seated on a poor chair, in the presence of the kneeling and weeping brothers, his beautiful and holy soul to the God he had so faithfully served, and he sang with divine enthusiasm these words of the Psalmist: "We have seen in the city of God what we had heard." It was on a Friday, November 15, in the year 1280, in the seventh year of the reign of King Rudolph of Habsburg, in the sixty-fourth since the foundation of the Order, six years and four months after the death of Saint Thomas Aquinas, that A lbert the Great, tha saint Thomas d'Aquin Saint cited as an example of resistance to temptation. t sun of philosophy, passed away. He had reached the age of eighty-seven.

He is represented in pontifical vestments, holding a book in his hand.

## CULT AND RELICS. — HIS WRITINGS.

The body of the illustrious Dominican, dressed in pontifical ornaments, was placed in a wooden sarcophagus. All the conventuals of the churches of the city of Cologne Cologne Archiepiscopal see and burial place of the saint. , Archbishop Siegfried, many nobles, and an innumerable crowd of people accompanied him; he was laid in the choir of the cloistral church, next to the holy cross, before the high altar. This mournful ceremony took place amidst universal mourning and tears and ended with the celebration of a most splendid funeral service.

The church of Regensburg, of which the great master had been bishop, desiring to possess the precious remains of its holy pastor, immediately sent commissioners to Cologne to claim them; but the monks would not let such a rare treasure be taken from them. They sent to Regensburg only a considerable relic (cat., the intestines), which were buried, it is said, in the Basilica of Saint Peter, behind the high altar.

On the tomb of the blessed master, in the church of Cologne, was placed a magnificent marble bearing this inscription: "In the year of the Lord MCCLXXX, on the fifteenth day of November, died the venerable lord brother Albert, former bishop of Regensburg, of the Order of Preachers and master in sacred theology. May his soul rest in peace. Amen."

It is impossible to specify the time when his tomb was first opened. Be that as it may, since the first translation, the body of our Blessed one remained for almost two hundred years in the middle of the choir of the Dominican church in Cologne, the object of deep veneration and the goal of pious pilgrimages. But finally, when the University of Cologne, which had emerged in large part from the famous school of Albert, had risen to its highest point of splendor, and the theology section had obtained universal consideration and esteem, the humble tomb of the great master of science no longer seemed suitable to the large number of students. They wanted to erect a more splendid and worthy mausoleum to this extraordinary genius, as many scholars of lesser merit had obtained. Touched by the incessant prayers of this famous school, Sixtus IV permitted the opening of the tomb as well as the translation of the body, asking Hermann, Archbishop of Cologne, not to put any obstacle in the way of the realization of such a laudable enterprise. Now, as the General of the Dominicans, Salvius Casetta, happened to be in Cologne at that time, the opening of the tomb was set for January 14 of the year 1482. The Provincial of Germany, Jacques Stobach, the prior of the Cologne convent, Jacques Sprenger, who was to direct the enterprise, the rector of the University, Ulrich of Eislingen, the professors, the doctors, and the students were all present at the drafting of this act.

Great efforts had to be made to remove, with the help of solid instruments, the enormous stone that closed the entrance to the vault; but they finally found what they were looking for. Soon appeared the stone sepulcher with the wooden sarcophagus that contained the holy remains. The latter was still adorned with episcopal ornaments. The head wore the miter, somewhat damaged; the right hand held the pastoral staff, the upper end of which was lead and the lower part wood, also damaged. A copper ring was found on the finger of the left hand and sandals on the feet. If all these objects proved the blessed Albert's love for the holy virtue of poverty, the testimonies of his ardent devotion were no less present. Hanging from the neck of the body were a small crucifix containing a particle of the holy cross, a small silk packet containing a wax *Agnus-Dei*, and a pfenning once pierced by one of the Savior's nails. The body itself had suffered almost no damage. Only a little earth covered it. The lid of the wooden sarcophagus having been destroyed by time and humidity, the religious, after having removed the earth without touching the body, found the head almost intact, the matter of the eyes was still in their orbits, and the flesh covered the chin with part of the beard. One could even still see a dried ear. The legs were perfectly intact, the limbs covered with dried flesh, and the feet were attached to the legs.

It was astonishing that the holy body, after having spent such a long time underground, still gave off an odor capable of filling all those present with admiration. Those who presided over the translation detached the right arm, intended for Pope Sixtus, who offered it to the Preaching Brothers of the convent of Bologna, and replaced the rest of the holy relics, with their original finery, in a more honorable tomb, which had been constructed so that they could always be offered for the veneration of the faithful. Unfortunately, we can no longer say what this new and remarkable monument was, since it disappeared like so many others at the beginning of this century. It is likely, however, that it was made of stone, raised above the ground, and enriched with sculptures. In the middle would have been placed the wooden sarcophagus, equipped with a transparent top that could be opened. Since this memorable translation, a large number of pious faithful visited the relics, and many sick people obtained their healing there.

The Dominican church in Cologne collapsed in the first ten years of our century under the blows of modern vandalism, which also destroyed eighty other buildings, churches, or monasteries in the city of Cologne. It is an artillery barracks that today replaces the former convent of the Preaching Brothers. The magnificent mausoleum of Albert himself could not find grace before the demolishers, in that time of painful memory. When the sarcophagus was opened then, the remains of the great man almost all fell into ashes; only the ornaments and part of the pastoral staff remained whole. All these relics were transported to the cathedral church of Saint Andrew. The bones, as well as the two pieces of the wooden pastoral staff (each having a length of fifty centimeters), and of which the upper part still bore the iron or lead coating, were again enclosed in a small wooden box which was hung on the wall of the north side entrance of the church.

As for the ornaments, they were kept and deposited in the upper sacristy of the church, where they can still be seen. They consist of the chasuble, the maniple, and the stole; the stole is of remarkable velvet on silk and is violet in color. The chasuble is of considerable weight and still possesses the ancient form of a cloak loaded with folds that covers the whole body and needs to be lifted at the arms. On the front and back part is drawn a cross (*sur-frisio*) in the form of a pallium, composed of gold stars and adorned with red and green squares or stars. The stole is a long and narrow band descending to the ends of the alb and adorned with twelve very small, but complete, images of the twelve Apostles. The maniple, of similar shape but shorter, bears the images of holy virgins, and, at the ends, the imprints of two Saints of the Order of Saint Dominic.

Since the death of the Blessed, faith in his glory in heaven had spread universally in the places he had honored with his presence. His cult developed successively. Some of the faithful first began to invoke him in their needs or to piously visit his tomb. Fifty years after his departure from this world, the question of his canonization was already being raised. If we are to believe certain biographers, Pope John XXII, that great friend of the sciences, had, in 1334, ordered inquiries into the canonization of Albert. This was undoubtedly after having, in the year 1323, inscribed Thomas, the Angelic Doctor, in the catalogue of Saints. However, the process, for reasons unknown to us, did not proceed at that time.

During this interval, the cult of Albert grew daily within the population of Cologne. The Dominicans then saw the necessity of proceeding to the opening of the tomb. When they had recovered the precious remains and verified several healings obtained by touching the relics, they published, with the authorization of Pope Innocent VIII, an office in honor of the blessed master. They also erected an altar to him, and celebrated the anniversary of his death with great magnificence in the convents of Ratisbon and Cologne.

At the beginning of the 18th century, a bishop and prince of Ratisbon, who, with the name of Albert, bore a great veneration for the servant of God, resumed the pending case of the beatification with all the zeal and perseverance recognized in the men of those regions. This was Albert IV, Count of Torringen and Bishop of Ratisbon. He began first by making inquiries to know how the feast of the great man was celebrated in Cologne. Two years later, he begged the Friars Preachers of that city to give him the head or skull of the Blessed, expressing to them the desire to expose this relic, enclosed in a precious vase, in his cathedral church. But the Dominicans could not part with their dear treasure. To satisfy the prince-bishop in some way, however, the authorized representative of the General of the Preachers, Thomas Marmus, took the bone of the left arm from the sepulcher and sent it to Ratisbon on January 18, 1619. Around the same time, Bishop Albert IV asked Pope Paul V that the feast of the Blessed, which was already celebrated in Cologne and Ratisbon, be extended to all the parishes dependent on the latter city; but the negotiations dragged on. The Roman Congregation, at the head of which was the famous Bellarmine, replied at first that in Rome they knew nothing of the matter and the alleged miracles of Albert, and that it was therefore necessary above all to initiate a process, for which they were, moreover, disposed. This response having reached Ratisbon, they hastened to prove that the said feast had long been celebrated with an immense concourse of people among the Dominicans, that Albert bore the name of Blessed in all the old books and martyrologies, and that a large number of miraculous facts were known about him. Finally, the Count of Torringen delegated his own chaplain, Menzel, to Rome, with the mission of pushing the matter with vigor; at the same time, he begged Duke William of Neuburg, the Elector Maximilian in Munich, and the Emperor of Germany, Ferdinand, to interest themselves on his behalf with the pontifical court. This took place in the year 1622. Now, when the investigation had gone through all the required stages, Pope Gregory XV, who in the interval had succeeded Paul V, on September 15, 1622, declared that it was permitted to the Church of Ratisbon to celebrate every year, on November 15, a solemn office in honor of the blessed Albert. That is to say, in other words, that the great man could be counted among the Saints of the Church, that he had practiced virtues to a heroic degree, and that miracles had manifested his glory.

Bishop Albert further made, in 1622, a foundation of five hundred florins, with the authorization of the Pope, so that the feast of the Blessed would be celebrated each year in the choir of the cathedral. Pope Urban VIII, in his turn, yielding to numerous requests, extended the privilege of the Church of Ratisbon to all the houses of the Order of Friars Preachers spread throughout the Roman States, Germany, and Italy. Finally, Clement X permitted all Dominican convents in the world to celebrate the anniversary of the passing of Albert the Great.

In our day, by a decree of the Congregation of Rites, dated November 27, 1856, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX placed Albert the Great among the Saints of the archdiocese of Cologne, and ordered that his feast be celebrated on November 16.

Albert raised for himself the most splendid monument to his glory through the works he published on all branches of human knowledge. An exact enumeration of them will perhaps always be impossible, for no contemporary catalog exists, and many have never been printed; others remain buried in libraries, and many foreign productions have been included among his writings. Labbe claims that Albert endowed the world with eight hundred works, such that he alone could supply all libraries; it is certain, even if we see this only as a poetic hyperbole, that he brought to light a prodigious quantity of works, and that he far surpassed all previous writers in fecundity. He spoke of all divine and human matters with truly astonishing erudition.

## 1° Authentic and printed writings of Albert the Great.

We can divide them into two classes: 1° those relating to philosophy or generally to the natural sciences, and 2° those treating theological questions.

To the first class belong the writings contained in the first six volumes of the Lyon edition, namely: The first volume embraces the treatises on logic: *On the Predicaments*, nine treatises; *on the ten Predicaments*, seven treatises; *on the six Principles of Gilbert de la Porrée*, eight treatises; on the two books of Aristotle, *On Interpretation*, or *Peri Hermenias*; on the *Syllogism simpliciter*, that is to say on the book of the Prior Analytics, sixteen treatises; on *Demonstration*, that is to say on the book of the Posterior Analytics, ten treatises; eight books on the *Topics*; on the two books of the *Sophistical Refutations*. — The second volume contains treatises on physics: On the eight books of the *Physics*; on the *Heavens and the World*, four books; on *Generation and Corruption*, eleven books; on *Meteors*, four books; on *Minerals*, five books. — The third volume contains the writings on psychology and metaphysics: The three books on the *Soul*; the thirteen books of the *Metaphysics*. — The fourth volume is devoted to ethical and political matters: Ten books of the *Nicomachean Ethics*; eight books of the *Politics*. — The fifth volume contains the small physical treatises (*Parva Naturalia*): *On Sense and the Sensible*, lib. I; on *Memory and Reminiscence*, one book; on *Sleep and Waking*, one book; two books on the *Movement of Animals*; on *Age*, or Youth and Old Age; on *Spirit or Respiration*, two books; on *Death and Life*, one book; on *Nutrition and the Nutritive*, one book; on the *Nature and Origin of the Soul*, one book; on the *Unity of the Intellect* against *Averroes*, one book; on the *Intellect and the Intelligible*, two books; on the *Nature of Places*, one book; on the *Causes and Properties of the Elements*, one book; on the *Passions of the Air*, one book; on *Vegetables and Plants*, seven books; on the *Principles of Progressive Movement*, one book; on the *Procession of the Universe from a First Cause*, one book; *Astronomical Mirror*. — The sixth volume contains zoology: *Opus insigne de Animalibus*, twenty-six books.

The second category of Albert's works embraces those that treat of theological matters. In the 7th volume are contained: the *Commentaries on the Psalms*. — In the eighth volume: The *Commentaries on the Lamentations of Jeremiah*; the *Commentaries on Baruch*; the *Commentaries on Daniel*; the *Commentaries on the twelve Minor Prophets*. — In the ninth volume: the *Commentaries on Saint Matthew*; the *Commentaries on Saint Mark*. — In the tenth volume: the *Commentaries on Saint John*; *Notes or Commentaries on the Apocalypse*. — The 12th volume contains: the *Sermons for the Season*; *Prayers on the Sunday Gospels of the whole year*; *Panegyrics of the Saints*; thirty-two *Sermons on the Sacrament of the Eucharist*; the book of the *Strong Woman*. — The thirteenth volume offers: the *Commentaries on Dionysius the Areopagite*. — Volumes XIV, XV, and XVI contain: the *Commentaries on books I, II, III, and IV* of the Master of the Sentences. — The seventeenth volume contains: the first part of the *Summa Theologica*. — The eighteenth volume: the second part of the *Summa Theologica*. — The nineteenth volume: the *Summa of Creatures*, divided into two parts, the first of which treats of the four *causes*; of *Prime Matter*, of *Time* , of the *Heaven Somme théologique Major theological work by Albert. and the Soul*; the second treats of *Man*. — The twentieth volume: the *Mariale*, or two hundred and thirty questions on the gospel *Missus est*. — The twenty-first volume contains various miscellanies (*miscellanea*), on *Apprehension and Modes of Apprehension*, one book; *Philosophy of the Psalms*, or *Isagoge on the books of Aristotle*, on the *Physical Understanding*, on the *Heaven and the World*, on *Generation and Corruption*, on *Meteors*, and on the *Soul*; on the *Sacrifice of the Mass*, one book; on the *Sacrament of the Eucharist*, one book; *Paradise of the Soul*, or *opuscule on the Virtues*; opuscule on the necessity of attaching oneself to God.

Such are the works collected in the complete collection of Albert's works, and which can be attributed to him.

## 2° Authentic manuscript writings.

There exist others recognized as authentic by the most ancient and respectable authorities. These writings, with the exception of a few, have not been printed until now. They are lost or remain buried in libraries. Many are only extracts from the works mentioned above. Of this number are the following:

[...list of items 17-52...]

Besides these works, already known to the oldest catalogers, such as Pignon and Valéoletanus, the librarians of Lyon cite again, in 1646, the following writings as coming from Albert and still existing in their time. These writings are, moreover, only the repetition of the works already mentioned, with different titles and in a shortened form.

[...list of items 1-45...]

3rd Apocryphal writings.

These writings are: [...description of Index entry...] That this writing was falsely attributed to Albert is visible by the mere fact that it is often cited by the author. It is generally believed that this book is the work of Henry of Saxony, one of the disciples of Albert the Great; — 10. Book of *Aggregations*, or Secrets of the virtues of stones, herbs, and animals; — 11. On the *Wonders of the World*; — 12. On the *Secrets of Henry of Saxony*; on the formation of the fetus; — 13. On the *Secrets of Nature* or of physiognomy. The author of this work is Michael Scot, the famous mathematician and astronomer who lived during the reign of Frederick II (1290); — 14. On the *Nature or Natures of Things*.

We have used, to complete and rectify Father Giry, the *Dominican Year*, and the work entitled: *Albert the Great, his life and science*, by Dr. Joachim Sighart, professor of philosophy at the Royal Lyceum of Freising (Paris, Poussinique, 1862).