Saints celebrated this week
S. Albert the Great – 15th November
Saint Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a Dominican friar and priest who achieved fame for his comprehensive knowledge of and advocacy for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion. He is considered to be the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages. He was born about 1200 and was a member of the Order of Preachers and a teacher of Thomas Aquinas. For a short period he was Bishop of Ratisbon, but he resigned the office so that he might return to the writing and study which was his real metier. His many works of theology and philosophy foreshadow those of his more famous pupil. After suffering a collapse of health in 1278, he died on November 15, 1280, in Cologne, Germany. His tomb is in the crypt of the Dominican church of St. Andreas in Cologne, and his relics at the Cologne Cathedral.
S. Margaret of Scotland – 16th November
The daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside, Margaret was probably born in Hungary about 1045. After the Battle of Hastings, Margaret took refuge in the Court of Malcom III of Scotland and married him in 1070. She lived with great piety, spending her time in prayer and fasting and caring for the poor. She used her position to reform the abuses of the time and the Church of the Holy Trinity at Dunfermline was founded at her benefaction. Her husband, and their eldest son, Edward, were killed in siege against the English at Alnwick Castle on 13 November 1093 and when Margaret found out she either died of sadness or a broken heart.
S. Gertrude – 16th November
Gertrude was born January 6, 1256, in Eisleben and was probably an orphan. As a young girl, she joined the Benedictine monastery in Helfta, under the direction of its abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn and received a broad education, particularly in Latin, music and painting. When she was about twenty-five she underwent a conversion and from then on devoted her life to contemplation, based on the liturgy. She wrote books concerned with the mystical life and a collection of prayers called the Spiritual Exercises. She was devoted to the Sacred Heart and writes about her visions with beauty and simplicity. She died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, 17 November, 1301 or 1302.
S. Elizabeth of Hungary – 17th November.
Born in 1207, Elizabeth spent most of her short life in Hungary. She was the daughter of the King of Hungary and in 1221 married Louis the Landgrave of Thuringia. She turned naturally to the ascetic life and was influenced by the Franciscans she met in Germany. Her husband died on the Crusade in 1227 and from then on she lived with complete austerity, visiting the poor and caring for the sick. She became a symbol of Christian charity in Germany and elsewhere after her death at the age of 24.
