Saint Albert the Great

15 November  ·  Optional Memorial  ·  White

Albert stands in a carved pulpit hung with gold and black, one finger raised and his other hand open over the book, and a long scroll of words curls round his head. In a roundel at the upper left Christ sits in judgment on a rainbow; below, the listeners crowd in, one with his arms folded, one with a hand raised. Friedrich Walther painted the great Dominican as he must have been heard, preaching.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection, 64.215

His life

He was born at Lauingen in Swabia in 1205 or 1206, though many historians give 1193, the eldest son of the Count of Bollstädt, and in 1223 he joined the Order of Saint Dominic. He taught at Paris and at Cologne, and among his students was Thomas Aquinas, whose genius he recognised and whose future greatness he foretold. In 1260 he was made bishop of Ratisbon; when his resignation was accepted he gladly went back to teaching. Gregory X called him to the Council of Lyons in 1274, and in old age he travelled to Paris to defend the memory of his disciple. He wrote on plants and animals as well as on God, and men called him the Great and the Universal Doctor. He died at Cologne on 15 November 1280.

Gregory XV beatified him in 1622. Pius XI canonised him in 1931 and declared him a Doctor of the Church, and Pius XII named him patron of those who study the natural sciences. He studied the plants and the stars and the soul with the same patience, and every honest question we ask still belongs to his patronage.

Daniel Kennedy, “St. Albertus Magnus”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (1907): newadvent.org; Benedict XVI, general audience of 24 March 2010: vatican.va

In Scripture

⁷Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me: ⁸And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.

Wisdom 7:7–8, Douay-Rheims (Challoner).

In painting

The day in the next three years

Near this day

• Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
• Saint Margaret of Scotland
• Saint Catherine of Alexandria

The saints of the year  ·  The feasts  ·  The Rosary

Written and checked by the Monstrance editors; sources cited. Scripture in the Douay-Rheims (Challoner). Every painting is in the public domain, and each caption follows the record of the institution that holds it.