Jordan of Saxony

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Jordan of Saxony
Fresco of Jordan in the convent at Worms
Master-General of the Order of Preachers
Born	c. 1190, Paderborn, Westphalia, Saxony
Died	1237, near Syria
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	1825 by Pope Leo XII (cultus confirmed)
Feast	13 February
Patronage	University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Engineering
Saints Portal

Blessed Jordan of Saxony (or Gordanus, Giordanus, Jordanus, also known as de Alamaia) (c. 1190 – 1237), a German of noble descent, was deacon of the Dominican Order in Paris. In 1222 he became successor of the founder of the Order and its first master general, Saint Dominic.

During his supervision the young Order increased to over 300 convents. By his lectures in university towns he won many, allegedly well over 1,000, professors and students for the order, among whom were Albertus Magnus. He is venerated as the patron of Dominican vocations.

Jordan is the author of Libellus de principiis Ordinis Praedicatorum ("Booklet on the beginnings of the Order of Preachers"), a Latin text which is both the earliest biography of Saint Dominic and the first narrative history of the foundation of the Order.

Jordan died in a shipwreck on the return from Palestine, where he had visited the local convents of the Order; the shipwreck occurred off the coast of Syria when his ship sunk while he was on his way from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1237.

He was buried in the Dominican church of Akko in present-day Israel.

His feast day is 13 February.