Albert of Vercelli

Template:Short description Template:Infobox saint Albert of Jerusalem, OSC (1149Template:Snd14 September 1214), also Albertus Hierosolymitanus, Albertus Vercelensis, Saint Albert, Albert of Vercelli or Alberto Avogadro,<ref>The name "Avogadro" is based on one tradition tracing his origin to a family of that name. A competing tradition identifies him as Alberto dei Conti di Sabbioneta. Evaldo Xavier Gomes (ed.), The Carmelite Rule, 1207-2007: proceedings of the Lisieux Conference, 4–7 July 2005 (2008), p. 116. (Circa la famiglia di origine le ipotesi più seguite, sia che si protenda per Gualtieri o Gualtirolo, per alcuni, sarebbe da ascrivere alla famiglia degli Avogadro, per altri a quella dei Conti di Sabbioneta, ritenendo aperta la questione).</ref> was a canon lawyer and saint. He was Bishop of Bobbio and Bishop of Vercelli, and served as mediator and diplomat under Pope Clement III. Innocent III appointed him Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1204 or 1205. In Jerusalem, he contributed the Carmelite Rule of St. Albert to the newly-founded Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. Albert is honoured as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church and commemorated in the liturgical calendar of the Carmelites on 17 September.

Life

Born at Castel Gualtieri, Italy,<ref>"Saint Albert of Jerusalem", Irish Province of Carmelites</ref> he was educated in theology and law. He entered the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara and was elected prior in 1180.<ref>"St. Albert of Jerusalem", The British Province of Carmelites</ref> He became Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and a year later was appointed Bishop of Vercelli.<ref name=Campbell>Campbell, Thomas. "Blessed Albert." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 28 January 2019</ref> He served the papacy as a mediator and diplomat between Pope Clement III and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Albert served as papal legate in 1199 and helped end the war between Parma and Piacenza.

In 1205 he was made Patriarch of Jerusalem by Pope Innocent III, whom he also served as papal legate in the Holy Land. As patriarch, Albert helped found the Carmelites around 1209, in particular by his composition of what came to be called the Carmelite Rule of St. Albert.<ref name=Campbell/> This order was based on Mount Carmel, across the Bay of Haifa from Acre where he resided as patriarch.

Additionally, he mediated disputes between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus and between the Knights Templar and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. In 1214 he had been invited to the Fourth Lateran Council, but the Master of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, whom he had rebuked and deposed for immorality, stabbed him to death on 14 September while taking part in a procession on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.<ref name=Campbell/> He was succeeded by Raoul of Merencourt.

See also

• Book of the First Monks
• Constitutions of the Carmelite Order

External links

• Carmelite Calendar", at Sr. Helena of Mary, O.Carm, "St. Albert of Jerusalem, Law-Giver of Carmel"
• "St. Albert of Jerusalem", St. Joseph's Carmelite Monastery, Kilmacud
• Catholic Online, "St. Albert of Jerusalem"
• "Colonnade Statue in St Peter's Square"