Albert of Trapani, St.
ALBERT OF TRAPANI, ST.
Carmelite; b. Trapani, Sicily, c. 1240; d. Messina, Sicily, Aug. 7, 1307. By 1280 he had entered the carmelite monastery in his native town, and despite his own humble opinion of himself he prepared for the priesthood and was ordained by 1289. He effected numerous conversions throughout Sicily and was made religious superior of the Sicilian province in 1296. By the time of his death, he had gained an extraordinary reputation for sanctity. He was buried at Messina, where he is honored as the patron because of his miraculous assistance to the city during a siege in 1301. His head is preserved at Trapani. His cult was approved by callistus iii in 1457 and by sixtus iv in 1476. His relics are widely disseminated because of the currently used blessing of the water of St. Albert in the Carmelite ritual; his aid is invoked against fever. The oldest biography dates from 1385, and few details of his life are certain. He is often shown holding a lily, or receiving the Christ Child from Our Lady. There are paintings of him by Francesco Francia and Bernardo Monaldi.
Feast: Aug. 7.
Bibliography: l. m. saggi, Dizionario biographico degli Italiani, ed. a. m. ghisalberti (Rome 1960–) 1:740–741. b. m. xiberta y roqueta, "Catalogus sanctorum ordinis carmelitarum," De visione sancti Simonis Stock (Rome 1950) 281–307. p. marie-joseph, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillat et al. (Paris 1912–) 1:1558–59. g. mesters, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 1:282–283. l. rÉau, Iconographie de l'art chrétien (Paris 1955–59) 3.1:47. Acta Santorum, Aug. 2:215–239.
[e. r. carroll]