Saint of the day November 15: Saint Albert the Great. Catholic Saints

Every November 15, the Catholic Church celebrates Saint Albert the Great (1193/1206-1280), Doctor of the Church and patron of students of natural sciences. Alberto ‘Magno’ (from Magnus‘great’ in Latin) was one of the central figures of medieval culture, recognized and admired for numerous reasons, among which his love for learning and knowledge stands out.

Saint Albert the Great explored most branches of science of his time (theology, philosophy, rhetoric, alchemy, botany, etc.) and inspired other exceptional minds in the search for truth. Among his disciples was Saint Thomas Aquinas. Alberto is known as the “Universal Doctor” (Doctor Universal) due to his vast knowledge, which was acquired with great effort and, although few know it, with the help of the Virgin Mary, with whom Saint Albert made a kind of “deal.”

A Dominican in Paris

Saint Albert was born in Lauingen (Germany) between the years 1193 and 1206. At the age of 16 he began to study at the University of Padua, where he met the blessed Dominican Jordan of Saxony, who encouraged him in his religious vocation and to join the Order of Preachers. (Dominicans).

Years later, Alberto obtained a professorship at the University of Paris, the intellectual center of Europe at that time. There he became a notable teacher. It is said that the number of his students became such that he had to move his classes from the classroom to the public square, so that everyone could hear him. That square today evokes its name: the Place de Maubert” – contraction of “Magnus Albert” (Alberto, the Great) -.

The teacher who revolutionized culture

Saint Albert was elected superior of the Order of Preachers in Germany and later appointed rector of the University of Cologne. It was there where he had as a disciple another “great” of the Church, Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Alberto was considered an authority in very difficult and diverse areas: philosophy, physics, geography, astronomy, mineralogy, alchemy (chemistry), biology; as well as in Bible and theology. He is credited with the discovery of arsenic and an explanation of the earth as a spherical body.

He was the great initiator of what is known as “scholasticism”, the cultural movement focused on education that would change the face of Europe forever. However, despite his gifts and the fame he obtained, he was always a simple man, clinging to prayer and the sacraments.

In Rome, Albert became the Pope’s personal theologian and canonist. He would later be ordained bishop of Regensburg, a service he renounced some time later to dedicate himself to continuing training new theologians and philosophers for the Church. In 1274 he actively participated in the Second Council of Lyon.

Saint Albert the Great and “the House of Wisdom”

There is no doubt that Saint Albert the Great was an unusual intellectual. However, that did not exempt him from the frailties of any human being. It is said that in 1278, while he was teaching, his memory suddenly failed and he lost his sharpness of understanding for a few moments.

Once recovered, the saint returned to an episode from his youth. He told his students that when he was young he had a hard time dedicating himself to studying and one night, hopeless, he tried to run away from the school where he was studying. In his attempt to leave the place, he reached the top of some stairs, when he saw, hanging on the wall, an image of the Virgin Mary.

“Alberto, instead of running away from school, why don’t you pray to me who am ‘House of Wisdom’? If you have faith and trust in me, I will give you a prodigious memory,” the Mother of God told him. And so that you know that it was I who granted it to you, when you are going to die, you will forget everything you knew,” concluded the Virgin.

“Between science and faith there is friendship” (Benedict XVI)

For the saint, the sudden loss of memory in that class was a sign from God announcing what was to come. Two years later, in 1280, Saint Albert died peacefully, without serious illness or extraordinary episode. That period meant a beautiful epilogue of prayer and very close contact with the Virgin; a serene preparation for the definitive encounter with God.

“Saint Albert the Great,” said Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, “reminds us that between science and faith there is friendship, and that men of science can travel, through their vocation to the study of nature, an authentic and fascinating path of holiness.”

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If you want to know more about the life and work of Saint Albert the Great, we recommend this article from the Catholic Encyclopedia: https://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/San_Alberto_Magno.

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