Saint Albert the Great, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor
S. Alberti Magni Episcopi Confessoris et Ecclesiae Doctoris
Saint Albert the Great, the Dominican friar and bishop who taught Saint Thomas Aquinas, is honoured as a Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church for his vast learning placed wholly at the service of the faith.
Saint Albert was born in Swabia, in southern Germany, near the beginning of the thirteenth century. Drawn while a student at Padua to the newly founded Order of Preachers, he received the Dominican habit and gave himself to a life of study, teaching, and prayer that would make him one of the most learned men of the Middle Ages. So wide was his knowledge that even in his own day he was called “the Great” and “the Universal Doctor.”
Teacher and bishop
Saint Albert taught at Paris and at Cologne, where among his pupils was the young Thomas Aquinas, whose genius Albert was the first to recognise and foster. He laboured to make the philosophy of Aristotle serve the understanding of revealed truth, showing that right reason and the Catholic faith cannot contradict one another, since both have God for their author. His writings ranged over theology, philosophy, and the study of the natural world, and in all of them he sought the truth as a gift of God.
Though he loved the quiet of study, the Church called him to govern, and he served for a time as Bishop of Regensburg before returning, at his own desire, to the life of teaching and preaching. He took part in the great councils and labours of the Church of his age, and ever defended the memory and doctrine of his disciple Saint Thomas after the latter’s death.
Doctor of the Church
Saint Albert died at Cologne in the year 1280, full of years and of merit. He was canonised and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931 by Pope Pius XI, and is honoured as the heavenly patron of those who study the natural sciences. In him the Church venerates a mind of rare breadth that remained humble before the mysteries of God, and a scholar who counted all his learning as nothing beside the love of Christ. His feast on the fifteenth of November sets before students and teachers the example of knowledge sanctified by faith and charity.
The Collect
O God, who hast made blessed Albert thy Bishop and Doctor great in subjecting human wisdom to divine faith: grant us, we beseech thee; so to follow the footsteps of his teaching, that we may enjoy in heaven the perfect light.
Deus, qui beátum Albértum Pontíficem tuum atque Doctórem in humaná sapiéntia divínæ fídei subjiciénda magnum effecísti: da nobis, quæsumus; ita ejus magistérii inhærére vestígiis, ut luce perfécta fruámur in cælis.
Patronage
He is the patron of students of the natural sciences and of those who pursue philosophy and theology, and is invoked by scholars and teachers.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his feast is observed on 15 November as an optional memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Albert the Great?
His feast is kept on 15 November in both the 1962 Roman Missal (Third Class) and the modern calendar (optional memorial).
Who was Saint Albert the Great?
He was a thirteenth-century German Dominican friar, bishop, and one of the most learned men of the Middle Ages. He taught Saint Thomas Aquinas and worked to harmonise the study of nature and philosophy with the Catholic faith. He is honoured as a Doctor of the Church.
Why is he the patron of scientists?
Saint Albert studied the natural world with great care and breadth — in subjects we would now call physics, biology, and chemistry — always seeing creation as the work of God. Pope Pius XII named him patron of those who cultivate the natural sciences, holding him up as a model of the harmony between faith and reason.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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