Albert Avogadro

Saint Albert Avogadro, commonly known as St. Albert of Jerusalem, (1149 – 14 September 1214) was a Catholic canon lawyer who served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1204 until his death.

Life

Born at Castel Gualtieri, Italy, Albert was educated in theology and law. He entered the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara and was elected Prior in 1180. He became Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and a year later was appointed Bishop of Vercelli.^[1] He served the Papacy as a mediator and diplomat between Pope Clement III and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He served as papal legate in 1199 and helped end the war between Parma and Piacenza, Italy.

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 he helped found the Carmelite Order around 1209, in particular by his composition of what came to be called the Carmelite Rule of St. Albert.^[1] This order was based on Mount Carmel, across the Bay of Haifa from Acre where he resided as Patriarch.^[2] Additionally he mediated in 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 September 14, "in the Church of Saint John of Acre while he was part of the procession"^[3] on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.^[1]

He was succeeded by Raoul of Merencourt.

St. Albert Avogadro is commemorated on 17 September in the Roman Catholic Church.

See also

• Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
• Book of the First Monks
• Constitutions of the Carmelite Order
• Catholic Encyclopedia
• Catholic Online: Saints & Angels: St. Albert of Jerusalem (first article)
• Catholic Online: Saints & Angels: St. Albert of Jerusalem (second article)

References