Saint Saturday - Albert the Great

In this series we will look at the life and impact of a Saint whose feast day fall in the upcoming week. 

Saint Albert the Great

One of the great blessings of teaching for many years is the return of students. This is not limited to the students who excelled or the ones who were easy to manage either. Many teachers much more experienced than me will tell you that it is often the students who struggled and disrupted class who more likely came back to share updates and show appreciation. While I cannot yet count myself in the well experienced category, I am just beginning to have the occasional student return to inquire of the school and share life updates. Even when they do not return, my thoughts often return to them. 

The teacher of the greatest student...

I wonder if Albert Magnus, who would likely have been known as the greatest, widest-ranging intellect of the Church and certainly of the Middle Ages had it not been for the impact of his greatest student, thought often of Thomas Aquinas after their time together ended. Many know that Albert was one of the first to recognize Aquinas’s genius, saying that the bellowing of this great ox would resound throughout the Church. How often did Albert seek news of Aquinas after Aquinas took the post in Paris?

Nature first, then Faith builds upon it...

In the same way that we cannot look at the success of married individuals without seeing the supportive presence of their spouse, so too we cannot understand the impact of a mind like St. Thomas without the engagement of his teacher. God provided Albert as the gift that would draw out Thomas’s genius. It just so happened that it took being a genius himself in order to do it. If Aquinas was known for his contributions in understanding the Faith, it was a Faith that was built upon Albert’s foundation of understanding Nature. 

Teachers build up so students can climb higher

This was the great work of St. Albert’s teaching. Building a foundation and a support. In educational philosophy, which you can create a structure around a concept so that the student can climb up to understanding it, it is called scaffolding. St. Albert laid a foundation and set up the scaffolding, so that all his students could climb a ladder of understanding the things of God.