CELESTIAL MOVERS IN MEDIEVAL PHYSICS 171 



minating intellect for all the animated movers of Venus, another 

 for Jupiter, and so forth. The highest separated intelligence is 

 the true immediate mover of the entire universe, the primum 

 caelum. The mind and will of God are obediently accepted and 

 executed by the animated substances, who consequently move 

 as moved movers. 



When discussing this matter on his own terms, St. Albert 

 prefers to keep three elements distinct: the celestial body, the 

 soul-like mover, and the separated intelligence. The reason 

 for this is that Albert could not accept Aristotle's concept of 

 celestial " souls " as the substantial form of the body. For 

 Albert these " souls " could not be the substantial form of an 

 inorganic, insensitive body, such as the moon and sun; this kind 

 of body would be entirely useless for intellectual processes. 

 Consequently these " souls " move the body only as an efficient 

 cause, not as a formal cause.^^ In his early work, the Summa 

 Parisiensis, Albert was willing to reconcile Aristotle's " souls " 

 with the Catholic doctrine of angels."^ Later, however, Albert 

 became most insistent that the angels of revelation should not 

 be identified with celestial souls or intelligences. According to 

 Giles of Lessines, a disciple of St. Albert, Haec est 'positio 

 multorum viagnorum et praecise domini Alberti quondam 

 Ratisponensis episcopi, oh cuius reverentiam rationes prae- 

 dictam positionem confirmantes addidimus.^° Albert's strong 

 views distinguishing angels from intelligences and souls were 

 shared by Theodoric of Freiberg, another disciple of his.®^ The 



^^ " Nos cum Sanctis confitemur caelos non habere animas, nee esse animalia, 

 si anima secundum propriam rationem sumatur. . . . Operatur autem ad corpus 

 ut nauta ad navem, hoc est, secundum rationem movendi ipsum et regendi." 

 Summa de creaturis, tr. Ill, q. 16, a. 2, ed. Borgnet XXXIV, 443a. In this edition 

 " natura " is erroneously printed for " nauta." 



^' " Ita non est contrarium fidei quosdam angelos iuvare naturam in movendo 

 et gubernando sphaeras caelorum, quos Angelos moventes sive intelligentias Phi- 

 losophi dicunt animus." Ibid., ad 6, p. 445b. 



*° Giles de Lessines, De unitate formae, P. II, c. 5, ed. M. de "Wulf in Les 

 Philosophes Beiges, I (Louvain, 1902), p. 38. 



®^ " Est autem et hoc circa iam dicta tenendum, quod dicti philosophi, loquentes 

 de mtelligentiis, non loquebantur de angelis, de quibus scriptura sacra loquitur, 

 quae loquitur mysteria abscondita a sapientibus et prudentibus et revelat ea par- 



