Doctors of the Church: St. Albert the Great

The saint and doctor of the Church who would be known as Albertus Magnus was born around 1200 in Lauingen, Bavaria. He studied at the University of Padua. After an encounter with the Virgin Mary in 1223, Albert joined the Dominican Order and excelled in theology. He became a renowned lecturer in Cologne and Paris, where his students included Thomas Aquinas. Albert was deeply interested in Aristotle and also studied Muslim scholars.

In 1254, Albert became provincial of the Dominicans and later helped develop a curriculum for the order. Appointed bishop of Regensburg in 1260, he resigned three years later to preach the Eighth Crusade. In his later years, Albert mediated disputes and founded Germany's oldest university in Cologne. He spent his final years defending Aquinas's works. Albert died in 1280, leaving behind 38 volumes of scholarly work.

Episode highlight reel:

Still frames from the episode: