658 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
bility of the confusion of activity it might involve. He con cludes it to be impossible for an angel to be in more than one place at the same time. He discussed at length the language and vocal organs of the angels.1 Especially elaborate is his treatment of the fall, and the activity and habitation of Lucifer and the demons. In pruriency he is scarcely behind some of the other Schoolmen. Every possible question that might occur to the mind had to be answered. Here are some of the questions. " Do the lost sin in hell ? " " Do they wish any good ? " " Is a smoky atmosphere a congenial element for the demons ? " " What are the age and stature of those who rise from the dead ? " " Does the sight of the pains of the lost diminish the glory of the beatified ? " To this last question he replied that such sight will increase the joy of the angels by calling forth renewed thanks for their redemp tion.2 The serious problem of what it was into which the devil fell occupied Albert's careful and prolonged argumen tation several times.3 The views of the Universal doctor on demonology will be taken up in another chapter. In an other place also we shall speak of his answer to the ques tion, what effect the eating of the host has upon a mouse.
The chief and ultimate cause of the creation of man is that he might serve God in his acts, praise God with his mouth, and enjoy God with his whole being. A second cause is that he might fill up the gaps left by the defection of the an gels.4 In another place Albert explains the creation of man and angels to be the product of God's goodness.6
Of all the panegyrists of the Virgin Mary before Alphonso
1 De locutione angelorum. Summa, II. 9, q. 35 ; Borgnet, XXXII. 376- 387. He draws in his discussion from Augustine, St. Basil, and Jonii of Damascus.
2 Sent., IV. 50 ; Borgnet's ed., XXX. 699. Albert even goes so far as to discuss whether unborn infants destroyed by abortion rise from the dead.
3 in quid cecidit diabolus. Summa de creaturis, IX. 67 ; Borgnet's ed., XXXIV. 682 sqq. Summa theol., II. 5, q. 23 sqq. ; Borgnet's ed., XXXII. 266-286.
4 Adjunctus autem finis est qui secutus est ex isto : et ille est reparatio ruince angelica. Summa, II. 12 sq., 74 ; Borgnet's ed., XXXIII. 67.
5 Quare est creatus homo vel angelus ? Brevi sermone, respondere potest. Propter bonitatem ejus. Sent., II. 1, E.; Borgnet's ed., XXVII. 35,
§ 108. THOMAS AQUINAS. 659
da Liguori, none was so fulsome and elaborate as Albert. Of the contents of his famous treatise, The Praises of Mary^ — de laudibus B. Marice Virginis,1 — which fills eight hundred and forty-one pages in Borgnet's edition, a synopsis is given in the section on the Worship of Mary. In the course of this treatment no less than sixty different passages from the Canticles are applied to Mary. Albert leaves her crowned at her assumption in the heavens. One of the questions this indefatigable theologian pursued with consequential pre cision was Eve's conception before she sinned.
As for the ecclesiastical organization of the Middle Ages, the pope is to Albert God's viceregent, vested with plenary power.2
Albert astounds us by the industry and extent of his theo logical thought and labor and the versatility of his mind. Like all the Schoolmen he sought to exhaust the topics he discusses, and looks at them in every conceivable aspect. There is often something chaotic in his presentation of a theme, but he is nevertheless wonderfully stimulating. It remained for Albert's greater pupil, Thomas Aquinas, to bring a clearness and succinctness to the statement of theo logical problems, theretofore unreached. Albert treated them with the insatiable curiosity of the student, the pro fundity of the philosopher, and the attainments of a widely read scholar. Thomas added the skill of the dialectic artist and a pronounced practical and ethical purpose.