Saint Albert the Great

Feast day: November 15

By Emily Woodham

Staff Writer

For the last two centuries, St. Albert the Great has been remembered mostly as the teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas.

However, his work in the 13th century went far beyond teaching science, philosophy and theology. His approach to the arts and sciences paved the way not only for St. Thomas but also for the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution that followed. St. Albert was so ahead of his time that even while he was alive, there were rumors that he was actually a magician.

St. Albert was born around the year 1200 in Lauingen, near the city of Ulm, Germany. Very little is known about his childhood except that he was born into a wealthy family and was given an excellent education. His home was near the Blue Danube River, which he loved to explore in his spare time.

Albert went to the University of Padua, Italy to study science, philosophy and theology. He struggled in the university and almost left when the Blessed Mother, St. Barbara and St. Catherine of Alexandria appeared to him. When the Virgin Mary asked him what he wanted, he said a “vast knowledge of human wisdom.” The Blessed Mother granted him the ability to understand knowledge more than any other person and protection from being led astray by his faith. She told him that at the end of his life, all his knowledge would leave his mind so that he would die as in the innocence of childhood.

While Albert was studying in Padua, he was introduced to the Dominicans. Because he was the oldest son in his family, his parents assumed that he would continue in a life at court. When he announced that he was called to be a Dominican, his parents were furious and refused to support him in his choice. Undaunted, he entered the Order of Preachers in 1223.

Albert went to the University of Bologna to study theology. At the time, through trade with Muslims, especially in Spain, the works of Ancient Greek philosophers were introduced to the universities of Europe. The books had been lost through the Fall of the Roman Empire, except for excerpts preserved through Latin. Albert devoured the Greek philosophy books, especially the works of Aristotle.

After graduating from Bologna, Albert was sent to teach in several universities in Germany. Just after he obtained a Master of Theology (which is similar to obtaining a PhD in modern America), Albert went to the University of Paris, where he was a full-time theology professor and the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James. His most famous pupil at the University of Paris was St. Thomas Aquinas.

Aquinas was ridiculed by students who thought he took too long to think through lessons. One day, Albert heard them call Aquinas a “dumb ox.” Albert replied, “You call him the dumb ox, but in his teaching he will one day produce such a bellowing that it will be heard throughout the world.”

Albert’s grasp of languages, mathematics, philosophy and theology was unsurpassed. He even excelled in music. He predated the idea of the “Renaissance Man,” a man who is well-learned in all sciences and arts, by two hundred years. His curiosity and willingness to consider subjects from different aspects of thought caused concern among many Dominicans. Some ridiculed him for his love of academics and accused him of lacking in sanctity because of it. Albert defended the study of the arts and sciences as a means of drawing closer to God. Because of his greatness of mind and spirit, people began calling him, “Albert the Great.”

Despite critics in religious quarters, Albert studied Arabic and Greek in order to give precise insights into Aristotle. However, Albert also upset secular scholars at the university with his defense of the Dominicans.

When Albert was sent to teach in Germany, Aquinas followed him, not wanting to miss a chance to learn more from his teacher. In 1254, Albert was made the provincial for the Dominican Order. Two years later, Aquinas was appointed to teach theology at the University of Paris, and Albert was sent to Rome as a papal advisor on theology. Whenever needed, Albert defended Aquinas in his scholarship in theology and on the philosophy of Aristotle.

In 1260, Albert was appointed as a bishop in Germany. Three years later, because Albert’s preaching and books were so popular, the pope assigned him to preach for a crusade in the Holy Land.

In the last 13 years of his life, Albert continued to teach and write tirelessly in the Dominican monastery in Cologne. Aquinas died in January of 1274, and Albert continued to defend Aquinas’ works in academia and in the Church.

True to what the Blessed Virgin said to him when he was a young man, when he was 78, Albert’s memory of his knowledge began to decline. He lived his last two years in simplicity. He died on November 15, 1280.

St. Albert the Great is a Doctor of the Church. He wrote more than 40 works on theology and the sciences. He is also the patron saint of scientists and philosophers.