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, 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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