Albert Magnus, Albert the Great

St. Albertus Magnus 700th Anniversary of Death 677-678 (1980) Albert (1200-1280) was a Swabian by birth from a noble family and later a Dominican friar and bishop. He was educated at Padua and taught at various locations including Cologne where St. Thomas Aquinas was his student. Albert became a master at Paris, the center of theological studies, but he also continued to teach at Cologne. He was appointed bishop of Ratisbon in 1260, but, unsuccessful as an administrator, in 1262 resigned his see and devoted his full-time energies to teaching. Albertus took part in church councils at Lyons (1274) and Paris (1277). Like Aquinas, Albert drew upon Aristotle’s philosophy in his theological and other writings. He was interested in the physical sciences – astronomy, chemistry geography, biology, physiology. He used reason and experimentation to verify conclusion. His main theological work was the Summa, a commentary on the theological Sentences of Peter the Lombard (ca. 1096-1160), a textbook used in priestly formation. Albert the Great is referred to as “the Universal Doctor.” He was beatified in 1622 and canonized in 1931 at which time Pius XI named him a Doctor of the Church and a patron of students of the natural sciences. References: • David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints • Dawn Marie Beutner, Saints Article Links: • Anonymous, “Albertus Magnus” : Vatican Notes, Vol. 29, No. 4 p. 4 (1981) • Anonymous, “Albertus Magnus” : Vatican Notes, Vol. 29, No. 5 p. 4 (1981)