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The Story of Saint Albert The Great
The Story of Saint Albert The Great
Saint Albert the Great, also known as Albertus Magnus, was a German Catholic
scholars call him the greatest German philosopher of the Middle Ages. In time for
this feast day, which we celebrate on November 15, let us revisit his remarkable life
and contributions.
in Southern Germany. The son of a military lord in the army of Emperor Frederick II,
Albert was educated at the University of Padua where he learned about the
philosopher Aristotle and his writings. The teachings of Aristotle would also become
Around 1223, Albert chose to join the Dominican Order after a miraculous encounter
with the Blessed Virgin Mary. He also pursued studies in theology excelling as a
student. He later became a lecturer, first he taught the Dominicans at Cologne and
then he traveled around the region to teach. He became well known as a lecturer not
collaboration he had with renowned French theologian Phillip the Chancellor. Albert
didn’t just stop at being a lecturer, though. Albert became a master of theology under
Saint Albert the Great taught theology at the University of Paris as a full-time
professor. He also became the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James. The
renowned philosopher, priest and theologian Thomas Aquinas was one of his
students.
In 1254, Albert became the provincial of the Dominican Order and was recognized
for being a competent and efficient administrator. Five years later, he took part in the
masters Bonushomo Britto, Florentius and Peter who would later become Pope
Dominicans that emphasized philosophy as an innovation for those who were not
1260. During the course of his duties, he became well known for his humility which
traversing his huge diocese and instead chose to travel on foot. This earned him the
In 1263, Pope Urban IV relieved Albert of his bishop duties and tasked him with
known for acting as a mediator between conflicting parties. One of his notable efforts
as a mediator was in 1258 when he brought an end to the conflict between the
Aside from his own writings, Saint Albert the Great also became the first to comment
on the writings of Aristotle which made the ancient Greek philosopher ’s body of
work more accessible to academic debate. In fact he was responsible for preserving
Albert’s principal theological works are a commentary in three volumes on the Books
of the Sentences of Peter Lombard and the Summa Theologiae in two volumes. He
Through his scientific work, Saint Albert the Great demonstrated that all creation
pointed toward God and that even the tiniest bit of scientific knowledge revealed
Saint Albert the Great spent the last years of his life defending the work of his
student Thomas Aquinas whose contributions are considered to be among the most
After suffering a decline in his health in 1278, Albert died in November 15, 1280 in
the Dominican convent in Cologne, Germany. Three years after his death his grave
was opened and his body was discovered to be incorrupt. Since November 15, 1954,
the relics of Saint Albert the Great are contained in a Roman sarcophagus in the
Saint Albert the Great was beatified in 1622. On December 16, 1931, he was
canonized and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. He is the patron saint of natural