No student is greater than his master, but everyone, when he has been fully trained, will be like his master.- Luke 6:40
This statement was spoken by Our Blessed Lord in reference to Himself and His disciples. (The English word disciple is derived from the Latin discipulus which means “student.”) In this case, it is undoubtedly true. However, there have been cases in the 2,000 year life of the Church in which the student has clearly exceeded his teacher. (In the Latin Vulgate, the word translated here as “master” is magistrum, which is usually translated as “teacher”.) The most notable is that of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Albert the Great, a.k.a. Albertus Magnus, whose memorial is on November 15.
St. Albert was a theologian and philosopher who began synthesizing the philosophy of Aristotle to determine its compatibility with Catholic teaching. (Aquinas helped him a great deal with this) He was also renowned as a diplomat, logician and, most of all, natural scientist, of whom Venerable Pope Pius XII proclaimed him to be the patron in 1941. Nevertheless, there is almost no question that his pupil St. Thomas Aquinas, whom he actually outlived by six years, exceeded him.
Aquinas studied under Albert when the latter was a professor of Theology at the University of Paris. Aquinas died in 1274 and was canonized by Pope John XXII almost 50 years in 1323. He was declared a Doctor of the Church, the first since the original four (Sts. Greogry the Great, Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome), 244 years later by Pope St. Pius V (who, incidentally, had himself been a Dominican friar before his election). This was 55 years before Albert was even beatified by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. It would then be over three centuries until Pope Pius XI canonized and named him a Doctor of the Church in 1931.
Masters and Students in Star Wars
“When I left you, I was but a learner but now I am the Master!” –Darth Vader
In the Star Wars universe, Jedi Knights are trained by an experienced Jedi who takes on an aspiring knight as an apprentice, called a Padawan. A Jedi is generally not granted the rank of Master until he has trained a Padawan all the way to Knighthood. There are, of course, many Jedi, but the Skywalker Saga focuses on a line of Masters and Padawans starting with Yoda. Yoda’s master is not identified in the films, though it is hard to imagine whoever he was being greater than Yoda, who is arguably the greatest Jedi ever and is certainly revered as such by order that he leads as Grand Master.
This sets a high bar that would be hard for any of his Padawans to reach, even those who did not fall to the Dark Side as his most notable one, Count Dooku did. Although Dooku appears to have been a great and revered Jedi as well, his fall automatically makes his apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn greater than he. It stands to reason that Qui-Jon trained other Padawans before his most notable Obi-Wan Kenobi. Qui-Jon has the rank of Master and Obi-Wan even tells that if he did not defy the authority of the Jedi Council so much he would have a seat on it. Obi-Wan himself is eventually granted a seat on the Council and like Qui-Gon he has trained one Padawan all the way to Knight, earning the title of Master.
Towards the climax of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, as Obi-Wan is departing Coruscant to defeat General Grievous and end the Clone Wars, he tells Anakin “You are strong and wise, Anakin, and I am very proud of you. I have trained you since you were a small boy. I have taught you everything I know. And you have become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be.” There is a tragic irony to these words because they are the last that Obi-Wan will say to Anakin before his fall and transformation into Darth Vader.
If Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side can diminish Kenobi’s greatness so can that of Dooku diminish Yoda. However, Qui-Jon never has an apprentice fall to the Dark Side (at least canonically), still given the achievements and huge impact that Obi-Wan had on the entire Star Wars saga, it is hard to argue that he did not become a greater Jedi than his master. He and Yoda did end up training the Jedi who would do what neither of them could do: defeat Darth Sidious/Palpatine and save Anakin from the Dark Side.
Luke Skywalker himself is complicated. Initially, he clearly surpasses both his Masters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Just five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, he is seen to be a very powerful Jedi when he comes to rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon. However, in the sequel films, he is an utter failure. After Ben Solo falls to the Dark Side, kills Luke’s other students and destroys the academy that he was building; Luke just exiles himself to Ach-Too, leaving his sister Leia to deal with the rising First Order. He even goes so far as to cut himself off from the Force. Both Yoda and Obi-Wan also went into self-imposed exile on Dagobah and Tatooine, but there was a purpose for each. The cave in which Luke fought a vision of himself as Darth Vader was a Dark Side nexus that masks Yoda’s presence while Obi-Wan was secretly watching over Luke until he was old enough to begin his training. They both were waiting for the “new hope” that could defeat the Sith and overthrow the Empire.
Luke had no idea that there was someone out who could defeat Kylo Ren and the First Order. Even when Rey found him, he initially refused to train her. Yoda’s comedic refusal to train Luke was actually the beginning of his training. Even when Luke does begin her training, in a large part Rey makes progress in spite of Luke, rather than because of him. When Yoda appears to Luke as a Force Ghost, he says, “Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters,” which is essentially the opposite of what Our Lord said regarding students and masters.
Thomas J. McIntyre
Thomas J. McIntyre is a teacher and amateur historian. He holds an MA in History from Georgia Southern University. In addition to the Voyage blog, he writes for Catholic 365 and on his personal blog "Pope Damasus and the Saints." He resides in Louisiana with his wife Nancy-Leigh and daughters Kateri and Alice.