St Albert the Great

Albert was named Albertus when he born, and he earned the title Albert the Great because of the way he used his gift of intelligence in his life. Albertus loved to study and he got most of his education in Padua, Italy. He was a very smart man and his family had lots of ideas of what he should do with his great gift. Then he saw a vision of Mary from Heaven, who told him that he should give his life totally to God. So Albertus joined the Dominican Order, even though his family did not want him to. He kept studying and then became a teacher for the Dominicans. He even taught St. Thomas Aquinas, who went on to write many amazing things about our relationship with God. He was a great scientist who did lots of experiments and taught us so much about science; but the most important thing he taught people was that you could believe in God and also learn about science without denying that God existed. Most scientists, until St. Albert, thought that if you were going to study science you could not believe in God. He wrote many books and reports about what he was learning so that others could learn, too, and, because of the amazing things he learned and shared, he is called a Doctor of the Church. He was put in charge of the Dominican Order he lived with and was later a Bishop for three years. He did both these jobs very well and was always very humble and generous with those he served. After his time as Bishop, he spent the rest of his life continuing his studies, preaching the Gospel, and working towards peace in his country of Germany and in the Catholic Church. His body is said to be incorrupt (it has never decayed after he died), which is a miracle.