The Feast of St. Albert the Great

Today is the feast of a Dominican saint, St. Albert the Great. He was born sometime around the year 1200, and died in Cologne in 1280. His teachings that stretched the Church of his time to look beyond the confines of a Christian

milieu for truth could stand us in good stead in these days when many proclaim that they have a corner on the truth. Albert and his famous student, St. Thomas Aquinas, found truth in the writings of Aristotle . . . found that they complemented Christian teaching. The Church named Albert a Doctor of the Church and a saint in 1931. We would do well to cultivate the willingness to listen and study the experience and beliefs of others before condemning them out of hand. We would also do well to cultivate the discipline to rigorous study that was demonstrated by St. Albert the Great, rather than taking the easy road of listening to what we want to believe, and taking that for truth.