Albert Avogadro

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Albert Avogadro
birth_date=1149
death_date=September 14, 1214
feast_day= 17 September
venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church


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caption= Albert Avogadro. Madonna del Carmine, Milan.
birth_place= Parma
death_place=Akko (Acre)
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Saint Albert Avogadro (1149 – September 14, 1214), was a canon lawyer who served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1204 until his death.

Born in Parma, Albert was educated in theology and law and served as Bishop of Bobbio until 1184, when he was appointed Bishop of Vercelli. He served the Papacy as a mediator and diplomat between Pope Clement III and Frederick Barbarossa. He served as papal legate in 1199 and helped end the war between Parma and Piacenza.

In 1204 he was named 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 the Carmelite Rule, otherwise known as the [http://carmelnet.org/chas/rule.htm Rule of St. Albert] . Additionally he mediated disputes between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus, as well as between the Knights Templar and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. In 1214, he had been invited to the Fourth Lateran Council, but was assassinated in Acre on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross by a disgruntled cleric. He is regarded as a saint by the Carmelites and as "blessed" by the Roman Catholic Church.

He was succeeded by Raoul of Merencourt.

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

ee also

* Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
* Book of the First Monks
* Constitutions of the Carmelite Order

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01261a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.geocities.com/korvesem/carmel/IDAlbert.html Carmelite Identity in the Rule of St. Albert]
* [http://www.karmel.at/ics/edith/stein_9.html Carmelite Vocation]