St. Albert of Jerusalem, Bishop Martyr
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Born at Parma, Italy, c. 1149-1150; died at Acca (Ptolemais),
Palestine, on September 14, 1214; formally venerated by the
Carmelites since 1411.

In 1099, the the crusaders under Godfrey de Bouillon established
the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem.  The Greek hierarchs were driven
from their principal sees and churches and replaced by bishops from
the West, whose only subjects were in the ranks of the crusaders
themselves.  Thus there came to be a Latin patriarch in Jerusalem,
many of whom were equivocal in character.

When Patriarch Michael died in 1203, the canons regular of the Holy
Sepulchre, supported by King Amaury II de Lusignan, petitioned Pope
Innocent III to send Saint Albert, bishop of Vercelli, to succeed
him because his holiness and abilities were well known even in
Palestine.  Pope Innocent reluctantly agreed.

Albert belonged to a noble family of Parma.  After brilliantly
completing his theological and legal studies, Albert had become a
canon regular in the abbey of the Holy Cross at Mortara in
Lombardy.  For a time he was prior general of his institute.

When he was about 35 (1184), he was consecrated bishop of Bobbio
and almost at once translated to Vercelli.  His diplomatic ability
and trustworthiness caused him to be chosen as a mediator between
Pope Clement III and Frederick Barbarossa.  By Innocent III he was
made legate in the north of Italy, and in that capacity he brought
about peace between Parma and Piacenza in 1199.  Innocent did not
want to spare him for Jerusalem, but approved the choice of the
canons; he invested him with the _pallium_ and created him his
legate in Palestine, and in 1205 Saint Albert set out.

In 1187, the Saracens had retaken Jerusalem, and the see of the
Latin patriarch had been moved to Acca (Ptolemais), where the
Frankish king had set up his court.  At Acca, accordingly Saint
Albert established himself, and, unlike his predecessors, set out
to gain the respect and trust not only of Christians but of the
Islamics as well.  He worked tirelessly to maintain peace between
the Franks and the Saracens.

As patriarch and legate he took a leading role in the
ecclesiastical and civil politics of the Levant, but Albert is best
remembered now for a quite different work.  Between 1205 and 1210,
Saint Brocard (f.d. September 2), prior of the hermits living on
Mount Carmel, asked Albert to codify their customary observance
into a formal rule for his community.  This Saint Albert did in a
document of 16 very short and definite 'chapters.'  The rule
included obedience to an elected superior, silence each day between
Vespers and Terce, long fasts and perpetual abstinence, a separate
house for each hermit but a common oratory, and manual work for
all.  This rule was confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1226, and
modified by Innocent IV 20 years later.  Although it is doubtful
that the Prophet Elijah founded the Carmelite Order, there is no
doubt that Saint Albert of Jerusalem, an Augustinian canon, was its
first legislator.

Innocent III summoned Saint Albert to the forthcoming council of
the Lateran; but he did not live to be present at that great
assembly, which opened in November 1215.  For 12 months he
faithfully supported the pope's hopeless efforts to regain
Jerusalem, and then his life was suddenly and violently cut short.
He had found it necessary to depose from his office the master of
the Hospital of the Holy Ghost at Acca, and the man was nursing his
resentment.  On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in 1214,
Saint Albert officiated at a procession in the church of the Holy
Cross at Acca, and in the course of it he was attacked and stabbed
to death by the deposed hospitaller .

Sources:
=======

Attwater, D. (1958).  A dictionary of saints.  New York:
     P. J. Kenedy & Sons.  [Attwater 2]

Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate.  (1947).  The
     book of saints:  A dictionary of servants of God canonized
     by the Catholic Church extracted from the Roman and other
     martyrologies.  NY: Macmillan.

Coulson, J. (ed.).  (1960).  The saints:  A concise biographical
     dictionary.  New York:  Hawthorn Books.
     Green & Co.

Farmer, D. H.  (1997).  The Oxford dictionary of saints.
     Oxford:  Oxford University Press.

Walsh, M. (ed.).  (1985).  Butler's Lives of the Saints.
     San Francisco: Harper & Row.

For All the Saints:
http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/ss-index.htm




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