Bl. Albert Berdini of Sarteano

Franciscan Friar and missionary, born at Sarteano, in Tuscany, 1385; died at Milan, 15 August, 1450. He entered the order of Minor Conventuals in 1405, but later, attracted by the apostolic life and remarkable virtues of St. Bernardine of Sienna, the fame of whose sanctity was spread throughout Italy, and desirous of following more strictly the rule of St. Francis, he passed over to the Friars Minor and became one of the devout disciples and faithful companions of the great Apostle of the Holy Name. Under the masterful guidance of St. Bernardine his fame as an orator became so renowned that he was commonly known as the "King of Preachers" (Rex Praedicatorum); and it is recorded of the famous rhetorician, Guerimus of Ferrara, that when Blessed Albert was announced to preach at Ferrara, the preceptor anticipated the hour for his lecture and, the lecture finished, took his students to hear the sermon of the missionary, saying to them: "You have heard the theory, let us know go and see it put into practice." Pope Eugenius IV commissioned him as one of his legates to negotiate with the Greek Schismatics and induce them to be present at the council held in Bologna in 1453. Though the title of Blessed has always been accorded to Albert of Sarteano, principally on account of the fact, as one of the earlier chroniclers of the order tell us, of the numerous miracles he worked after his death at Milan, his cultus has never been explicitly approved by the Church. Active steps have, however, lately been taken for his formal beatification.

BENEDETTO NERI, La Vita e I Tempi del Beato Alberto da Sarteano (Quaracchi, 1902); HAROLDUS, B. Alberti a Sarthiano Vita et Opera, opus posthumum; SBARALEA, Supplementum et Castigatio ad Scriptores trium ordinum S. Francisi (Rome, 1806); LEMMENS, Chronica Beati Bernardini, Aquitani (Rome, 1902); DA CIVEZZA, Storia delle Missioni Francescane (Rome, 1860).

STEPHEN M. DONOVAN