Abstract
The thought proposed by St. Dominic de Guzmán to the Order of Preachers attained its first academic and systematic expression in the work of Albert the Great. The vita activa is an out-pouring of the vita contemplativa within time. Both of these lives constitute what, in the Dominican tradition, is called the vita apostolica. The aim of this paper is to show that contemplation not only guides moral and political action, but that it also basically transforms that action. Men are not only good because they can offer a rational answer about God being the first cause, but also because, by contemplating the God who has revealed Himself and His Work, they decide to implement the model which He provides in political life, by means of the virtus política.