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Saint Albert the Great,
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Optional Memorial
November 15th

Tommaso da Modena
Saint Albert the Great
1352 -- Fresco
Chapter House, San Niccoló, Treviso

(1206-1280) Saint Albert was born in Germany and studied in Padua and Paris before entering the Order of Preachers where he was a doctor of theology. St. Thomas Aquinas numbered among his pupils. A man of great learning and a generous mind, St. Albert was at the forefront of the reception of Aristoltle into the Christian West. As bishop he worked to establish peace among peoples and cities.

Source: Daily Roman Missal, Edited by Rev. James Socías, Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, Illinois ©2003

Collect:
O God, who made the Bishop Saint Albert great
by his joining of human wisdom to divine faith,
grant, we pray, that we may so adhere to the truths he taught,
that though progress in learning
we may come to a deeper knowledge and love of you.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.

First Reading: Sirach 15:1-6
The man who fears the Lord will do this, and he who holds to the law will obtain wisdom.
She will come to meet him like a mother, and like the wife of his youth she will welcome him.
She will feed him with the bread of understanding, and give him the water of wisdom to drink.
He will lean on her and will not fall, and he will rely on her and will not be put to shame.
She will exalt him above his neighbors, and will open his mouth in the midst of the assembly.
He will find gladness and a crown of rejoicing, and will acquire an everlasting name.

 

Gospel: Matthew 13:47-52
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. "Have you understood all this?" They said to Him, "Yes." And He said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."

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Saint Albert the Great: BENEDICT XVI,GENERAL AUDIENCE,Saint Peter's Square,Wednesday, 24 March 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our catechesis on the Christian culture of the Middle Ages, we now turn to Saint Albert, better known as Albertus Magnus, Albert the Great. A universal genius whose interests ranged from the natural sciences to philosophy and theology, Albert entered the Dominicans and, after studies in Paris, taught in Cologne. Elected provincial of the Teutonic province, he served as bishop of Regensburg for four years and then returned to teaching and writing. He played an important part in the Council of Lyons, and he worked to clarify and defend the teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas, his most brilliant student. Albert was canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI, and Pope Pius XII named him the patron of the natural sciences. Saint Albert shows us that faith is not opposed to reason, and that the created world can be seen as a “book” written by God and capable of being “read” in its own way by the various sciences. His study of Aristotle also brought out the difference between the sciences of philosophy and theology, while insisting that both cooperate in enabling us to discover our vocation to truth and happiness, a vocation which finds its fulfilment in eternal life.

© Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

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