The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March. Baring-Gould Sabine

as they descried the beauty of Paris in the distance, the general turned to Thomas and said, "What would you give to be king of that city?" "I would rather have S. Chrysostom's treatise on S. Matthew," replied the young man, "than be king of the whole of France."

      S. Thomas met his match in Albertus Magnus. Nothing is a greater blessing for a master-mind than to come in contact with another master-mind, more highly educated, and with a more matured experience than itself. Albert was born of noble family at Lavingen, in Suabia, (1193 A.D.) Some say that, like S. Isidore, he was dull as a boy. At Padua, where he was studying medicine and mathematics, he was drawn by Brother Jordan's eloquence to join the Dominicans. He was sent to Bologna, then the second centre of the intellectual world. Next he began to teach. As a lecturer he was unrivalled: all classes thronged into the hall of this extraordinary man. The logic, ethics, and physics of Aristotle, and portions of Holy Writ, were the subject matter of his lectures. After settling at Cologne, he was summoned to Paris in 1228, to put the studies on a footing to meet the requirements of the age. Then he returned to Cologne. It was at this period that he first met S. Thomas, who became his favourite disciple, and to whom, in private, he opened the stores of his capacious mind.

      The companions of S. Thomas in Albert's school, were men filled with the impression that to exert the reasoning faculties in debating scholastic questions, was one of the principal ends of all philosophy. It is not extraordinary that such men as these, when they saw young Aquino so silent, should imagine that nothing occupied his thoughts; especially when they perceived that he was equally reserved in school. They soon came to the conclusion that he was a naturally obtuse lad. What is more strange is this, – that Albert at first held him to be deficient. He was called by master and pupils, "the great dumb Sicilian ox." Once, when studying in his cell, he heard a voice crying to him, "Brother Thomas, here! quick, look at this flying ox!" When S. Thomas went to the window, he was received with shouts of derision. In explanation he said incisively: "I did not believe an ox could fly, nor did I, till now, believe that a religious could tell a lie."

      A companion one day offered to assist him in his lesson. S. Thomas assented; presently his friend came to a hard passage, which was beyond his depth, the saint took the book from him, and explained the passage with great clearness. Albert had selected a difficult question from the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite; this the scholars passed to S. Thomas; he took it to his cell; and first stating all the objections that could be made against it, he then answered them. A brother picked up this paper, and carried it to Albert. His master ordered him to defend a thesis the next day before the whole school. Thomas spoke with such clearness, established his thesis with such dialectical skill, saw so far into the difficulties of the case, and handled the whole subject in so masterly a manner, that Albert exclaimed, "Thou seemest to me not to be defending the case, but to be deciding it." "Master," he replied, "I know not how to treat the question otherwise." Albert, to test him further, started objections, but Thomas solved every difficulty so successfully, that Albert cried out, "We call this youth 'Dumb Ox,' but the day will come when the whole world will resound with his bellowing."

      1

      In the reign of Trajan, says the Life, but this is very questionable. Monastic life was not developed then to the extent shown in this story.

      2

      The wealth of some of the harlots of olden times was enormous. Phryne offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes at her own cost if allowed to inscribe on them, "What Alexander, the conqueror, pulled down, Phryne, the harlot, set up."

1

In the reign of Trajan, says the Life, but this is very questionable. Monastic life was not developed then to the extent shown in this story.

2

The wealth of some of the harlots of olden times was enormous. Phryne offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes at her own cost if allowed to inscribe on them, "What Alexander, the conqueror, pulled down, Phryne, the harlot, set up."

3

Many of these details of S. Chad's life are taken from Mr. Warner's excellent life of S. Chad.

4

The reader will here recall the account of Lancelot and the Sacring in the Tower by Joseph of Arimathæa, in the Morte d'Arthur.

5

Aleidis or Alice.

6

A pun in the Greek, impossible to translate.

7

The following is a specimen of the stories told by this author: Winwaloe had a sister at home, who was one day playing with the geese belonging to her father, when one of them flew at her, pecked out, and swallowed her eye. The parents were in despair. Then an angel appeared to the holy boy, Winwaloe, and told him of the trouble. Winwaloe at once hastened home, singled out the guilty goose, sliced open its belly, removed the eye of his sister from its crop, and replaced it in his sister's head, and she saw as well as before. The boy then miraculously healed the goose, and dismissed it to rejoin the flock. After this he returned to his master and studies.

8

He is called Guennole, or Vignevale, in French. At Montreuil-sur-Mer, of which place he is patron, he is called S. Valois. His name has also been corrupted into Valvais and Vennole.

9

The best account of the Manichæan tenets of the medæval heretics is in Hahn: Geschichte der Ketzer, vol. i.; the texts are given in notes, upon which he bases his opinion. See also Gieseler's Ecclesiastical Hist., 3rd division, chap. vii.; but Gieseler is less full and impartial than Hahn.

10

"Hæreticus ponit duo principia, diabolum dicens creatorem omnium visibilium." Pet. Vallium Sarnaii, apud Bouquet xix. p. 5. Reiner in Max. Bibl. xxv. p. 263. "Quorum finis est Manichæorum induere sectam et duos fateri Deos, quorum malignus, ut procaciter mentiuntur, creavit omnia visibilia." – Lucas Tudens. xvi., p. 240.

11

"Sathanam magnum Luciferum qui propter elevationem et nequitiam suam de throno bonorum cecidit angelorum, creatorem cœli et terræ, omniumque rerum visibilium et invisiblium, spirituum malorum creatorem et principem et Deum esse profitebantur ipsumque legem Moysi dedisse asseverant." – Chron. Gonfredi in Bouquet xii., p. 448.

12

"Erant alii hæretici qui dicebant quod unus est Creator; sed habuit filios, Christum et diabolum." Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud Bouquet xix. p. 5.

13

Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib., c. 2.

14

Ibid., p. 5.

15

Arch. Inquisit. Carcass. in Vaissette iii., p. 435.

16

"Dicebant in secreto suo, quod Christus ille qui natus est in Bethleem, terrestori et visibili, et in Hierusalem crucifixus, malus fuit; et quod Maria Magdalena fuit ejus concubina, et ipsa fuit muiler in adulterio deprehensa, de qua legitur in Evangelio. Bonus enim Christus … nunquam comedit vel bibit, nec veram carnem assumpsit, nec unquam fuit in hoc mundo nisi spiritualiter in corpore Pauli." Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud Bouquet xix. p. 5 "Quod Dei filius