View source for Albert of Vercelli

{{Short description|Italian Catholic prelate (1149–1214)}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix= [[Saint]]
|name= Albert of Jerusalem
|honorific_suffix= [[Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross|OSC]]
|birth_date= 1149
|death_date= {{death date and age|1214|09|14|1149|df=y}}
|feast_day=  17 September (Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel)
|venerated_in= [[Catholic Church]] 
|image=Alberto Avog.JPG 
|imagesize= 250px
|caption= 
|birth_place= [[Gualtieri]], [[Italy]]
|death_place= [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]
|titles= [[Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem|Patriarch of Jerusalem]]
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date= 
|canonized_place=
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}}
'''Albert of Jerusalem''', OSC (1149{{snd}}14 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 law (Catholic Church)|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 [[Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem|Patriarch of Jerusalem]] in 1204 or 1205. In Jerusalem, he contributed the [[Carmelite Rule of St. Albert]] to the newly-founded [[Carmelites|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]], [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]],<ref>[https://carmelites.ie/saints/saint-albert-of-jerusalem/ "Saint Albert of Jerusalem", Irish Province of Carmelites]</ref> he was educated in [[theology]] and law. He entered the [[Canons Regular of the Lateran#Background|Canons Regular of the Holy Cross]] at Mortara and was elected prior in 1180.<ref>[http://www.carmelite.org/carmelite-spirituality/saints-of-carmel/st-albert-jerusalem "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>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01261a.htm 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 [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|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 (city)|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 Cross|Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross]].<ref name=Campbell/> He was succeeded by [[Raoul of Merencourt]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Saints}}
* [[Book of the First Monks]]
* [[Constitutions of the Carmelite Order]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{catholic|wstitle=Blessed Albert}}

==External links==
*[http://srhelena.blogspot.com/2009/09/feast-day-september-17th-albert.html Carmelite Calendar]", at Sr. Helena of Mary, O.Carm, "St. Albert of Jerusalem, Law-Giver of Carmel"
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140701033637/http://www.kilmacudcarmel.ie/albert.html#Who#Who "St. Albert of Jerusalem", St. Joseph's Carmelite Monastery, Kilmacud]
*[https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1211 Catholic Online, "St. Albert of Jerusalem"]
*[http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Albert-6/St%20Albert.htm "Colonnade Statue in St Peter's Square"]

{{S-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{Succession box|
  before=[[Soffredo]]|
  title= [[Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem]]|
  years=1204&ndash;1214|
  after=[[Raoul of Mérencourt]]
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Carmelites|state=expanded}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avogadro, Albert}}
[[Category:1149 births]]
[[Category:1214 deaths]]
[[Category:Bishops of Bobbio]]
[[Category:Bishops of Vercelli]]
[[Category:Christians of the Crusades]]
[[Category:Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Diplomats for the Holy See]]
[[Category:Italian beatified people]]
[[Category:Canon law jurists]]
[[Category:Carmelite spirituality]]
[[Category:13th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Kingdom of Jerusalem]]
[[Category:13th-century venerated Christians]]
[[Category:12th-century Italian jurists]]
[[Category:13th-century Italian jurists]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints]]