Il Corpo Mistico e le sue relazioni con l’Eucaristia in S. Alberto Magno by Antonio Piolanti (review)

182 BOOK REVIEWS I have said that this little book is admirable: it is admirable not alone in its power of reasoning; it is yet more admirable in its healthy optimism, in its courage in the face of difficulties, in its readiness to confront the future whatever the snags might be. It is an admirable blend of reasoning and faith and is stimulated by a charity that is stronger than both. Archbishop's House Nagpur, India ~LEONARD J. RAYMOND Il Corpo Mistico e le sue relazioni con l'Eucaristia in S. Alberto Magno. By ANTONIO PIOLANTI. Preface by Andre Combes. Studi di Teologia Medievale della Pontificia Universita Lateranense, 1. Rome: Pontificia Universita Lateranense, 1969. Pp. 211. The Lateran University's new series of monographs in medieval theology opens with a reprint of Msgr. Piolanti's 1939 study of Albert the Great's teaching on the Mystical Body. No changes are made except for the laudatory preface by Msgr. Combes and a new paragraph by the author. A good introduction situates Albert within a third and fuller period of development of medieval theology on the Mystical Body. Piolanti then describes the many works containing Albert's teaching on this subject; unfortunately the Mariale and the Sermones de Tempore et de Sanctis, no longer accepted as Albert's works, are used in some areas of his study. which therefore needs revision in these places. In the first of two main parts Piolanti organizes Albert's texts in a clear, generally satisfactory order, studying Christ as Head together with his members, the various causes of the union in the Mystical Body, and the consequences of this union. Albert teaches that, while Christ is Head of the angels, he is Head of men in the fullest sense because, besides being as God principle of their spiritual life (as he is of angels'), he has a conformity of nature with men. Christ's fulness of grace as Head originates from and is demanded by the grace of union but is formally constituted by his sanctifying grace. Lacking a concept of physical instrumental cause, Albert holds that Christ causes grace only by his divine nature: as man he influences the reception of grace by his members through his merit, mediation, and exemplar causality. These, plus sharing human nature itself, he includes under Christ's conformity of nature with his members: Piolanti, however, misinterprets the texts by equating conformity with exemplarity alone and by overlooking conformity of nature. (p. 68) Albert enriches Anselm's theology of merit and satisfaction by empha- BOOK REVIEWS 188 sizmg the mystical union with Christ of men who thereby share his merits and satisfaction. Members of the Mystical Body include not only men on earth but also the blessed in heaven and souls in purgatory. Sinners present a greater problem: they belong to the Mystical Body only through faith and as subjects of its authority (here and elsewhere Piolanti confuses issues by linking the Mystical Body with interior elements and the Church with exterior elements, a later view abandoned today). Albert's use of some of the scriptural metaphors (body, spouse, temple, vine) relating to Christ and his members is described all too briefly. His valuable discussion of the Holy Spirit presents this Person as a parallel operator of effects whose author is Christ, on whom he depends. Albert furthers the theology of the communion of saints by insisting that this is not, as his predecessors held, only or mainly a communion of sacraments but rather a communion of goods. The second main part studies the important relationships of the Eucharist with the Mystical Body. Although Albert lacks great originality here, his personal inspirational style and approaches are interesting, as is his use of natural science to develop Eucharistic symbolism of the Mystical Body. For him the grace of unity by incorporation in Christ is the work of the Eucharist alone. As for the relationships of the other sacraments such as Baptism, Penance, and Matrimony, Albert develops in a number of texts a richer doctrine than the three texts quoted by Piolanti would indicate. The author's presentation is clear and concise if sometimes repetitious. His interpretation of the texts is, with...