<p>St. Albert the Great was born Albertus Magnus, in Cologne, Germany.&nbsp; He earned an immense reputation as a scholar and a philosopher.&nbsp; He was educated in Padua.&nbsp; Early accounts refer to St. Albert&rsquo;s encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary, who convinced him to enter Holy Orders.&nbsp; He went on to become a member of the Dominican Order, against the wishes of his family.&nbsp; He studied theology at Bologna.&nbsp; He was selected to fill the lector position at Cologne, Germany, where the Dominicans had a House, and he taught there for several years.&nbsp; In 1245, he went to Paris to receive his doctorate and taught as a Master of Theology.&nbsp; St. Thomas Aquinas began his studies under St. Albert the Great. &nbsp;</p> <p>He was the first to comment on virtually all of the writings of Aristotle, as well as on the teaching of Muslim academics.&nbsp; He was ahead of his time in his attitude towards science.&nbsp; Two aspects of his attitude deserve to be mentioned; he did not only study science from books, but actually observed and experimented with nature.&nbsp; Secondly, he took from Aristotle the view that scientific method had to be appropriated to the objects of the scientific discipline at hand. &nbsp;</p> <p>In 1254 St. Albert was made Provincial of the Dominican Order, and fulfilled the duties of the office with great care.&nbsp; During his tenure he publicly defended the Dominicans against attacks by the secular and regular faculty of the University of Paris.&nbsp; In 1260, Pope Alexander IV made him Bishop of Regensburg.&nbsp; As an act of humility, he refused to ride a horse, the transportation of his day, instead walking back and forth across his diocese. After his time as Bishop, he spent his time preaching. &nbsp;</p> <p>After suffering a collapse of health in 1278, he died on November 15, 1280 in Cologne, Germany.&nbsp; His relics are in a Roman sarcophagus in the crypt of the Dominican St. Andreas Chruch in Cologne.&nbsp; He was beatified in 1622, and canonized in 1931.&nbsp; He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI.&nbsp; His body is said to be incorrupt. &nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Practical Take Away</strong></span></p> <p>St. Albert the Great was a German Dominican Friar and Bishop who achieved his fame for his comprehensive knowledge of, and advocacy, for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion.&nbsp; He was a very humble man, and one of the greatest philosophers and theologians of the middle ages.&nbsp; The Catholic Church honors him as a Doctor of the Church, one of only 35 persons with that honor. &nbsp;</p>