Albert the Great (variously known as Albertus Magnus, Albert the German, Albert of Ratisborn, or Albert of Cologne), was the only scholar of his age to have received this title of "the Great," which was also used before his death. He is also referred to as doctor universalis for his wide spectrum of knowledge and interests, as an advocate for Aristotelianism at the University of Paris, and as the teacher of Thomas Aquinas.
Albert was the eldest son of the Count of Böllstadt, a wealthy German lord, and was born in 1206 in the castle of Lauingen on the Danube River in the southern German province of Swabia. Albert's early schooling included instruction in the arts as well as acquiring detailed knowledge of natural phenomena, which later proved its significance in his botanical writings. After his early schooling, Albert attended the University of Padua in northern Italy to study the liberal arts. In the summer of 1223, when Albert was 16 years old, a group who called themselves "Brothers" ("Friars") of the Dominican Order caught Albert's attention. This group's purpose was to counteract the heresies of the Roman Catholic Church, and to evangelize Christians. Jordan of Saxony, the master general of the Dominican Order, journeyed to Padua in hopes of attracting new members. Of the 10 students seeking admission, Albert became one of them, despite the strong opposition posed by his family. He continued his studies at the universities of Padua and Bologna, and in Germany, and then taught theology at several convents in Germany, lastly at Cologne.
At one point before 1245, Albert was sent to the Dominican convent of Saint-Jacques at the University of Paris. Here, he first was exposed to Aristotle's works, which were recently translated from Greek and Arabic, and the commentaries on Aristotle's works by Averroëes, a twelfth century Spanish-Arabian philosopher. Albert began to teach and lecture on the Bible and theology. He obtained the Dominican chair "for foreigners" and was graduated master in the theological faculty.
While in Paris, Albert wrote commentaries and "digressions" on the Bible, all of Aristotle's known works, and Peter Lombard's Sentences, the theological textbook of the medieval universities. With this project, Albert was able to carry out his definition of the term "experiment" as a careful process of observing, describing, and classifying. He undertook this project so as to "to make . . . intelligible to the Latins" all the branches of natural science, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, ethics, economics, politics, and metaphysics. Albert believed there was no "double truth" in opposition against each other; instead, faith and reason by way of philosophy and science are joined in harmony. Albert also defended the Averroist teachings, which held that only one intellect, which is common to all human beings, remains after death.
Albert began to gain a reputation as a renowned scholar due to his lectures and publications. He was soon ranked as an authority of natural history and natural sciences, and his stature was even equal to that of Aristotle's in some circles, who had so far produced any truly comprehensive treatises on the natural sciences. Furthermore, even Roger Bacon, a contemporary of Albert's, spoke of him as "the most noted of Christian scholars." He continued to teach, preach and study in and organize the first studium generale ("general house of studies") in Cologne in the summer of 1248. Albert became the Provincial of "Teutonia," the German province of the Dominicans, and took on many burdensome administrative duties. Despite the extra work, Albert continued his writing and scientific observation and research.
In 1256, Albert became more involved in Church politics. Pope Alexander IV ordered Albert to the papal court, along with Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, a noted Franciscan scholar. They had to defend the mendicant orders against the attacks of the masters of the University of Paris at the Papal Curia at Anagni. The three men were successful in defending the right of the mendicants to teach at the university.
Although Albert resigned from his office of provincial in 1257 to resume teaching at the University of Cologne, he was appointed by the Pope as Bishop of Regensburg in 1259. Despite the objections from the Dominican Order and his own reluctance, he became bishop in 1260. When Pope Alexander IV died in 1261, Albert was able to resign, and again resumed reaching at Cologne.
Albert died in Cologne on November 15, 1280, exhausted by his work and austere life. He is buried in the Dominican Church St. Andreas in Cologne. In 1931, he was canonized a saint and heralded as a doctor of the church; in 1941 he became the patron of those studying the natural sciences.
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