Today is the feast of St. Albert, Doctor of the Church, most commonly known as Albert the Great, a title people began using of him in his own lifetime due to his eminence as the greatest teacher of his day, not only being an excellent instructor and eminent researcher but also teaching many students over a long career. From his work on the Eucharist:
For this sacrament brings the grace of communion, and beyond this, the grace of atonement, and upon these two it piles the grace of redemption, and in addition to these three it piles up the grace of vivification, and beyond these four, it gives the grace of spiritual refreshment, and beyond these five, it signifies to us the glory of eternal beatitude. From these it will be shown that it bestows a heap of grace and of holiness; indeed, by his body, it confers the grace of communion with all the members of Christ, and by his blood, it gives the grace of atonement, and by his soul, it truly [gives] the grace of redemption, and from the spirit of Christ, it gives the grace of vivification and of virtue, and by his divinity, it causes the grace of refreshment, and by the whole sacramental sign, it gives the grace of eternal beatitude.
[Albert the Great, On the Body of the Lord, Surmanski, tr., The Catholic University of America Press (Washington DC: 2017) p. 61 (Distinction One, Chapter Five).]
