ALBERTO da PADOVA. — Augustinian preacher, b. in Padua perhaps in 1269, d. in 1323 (or 1328). He completed his studies and obtained his doctoral degree at the Sorbonne, where for several years he expounded Scripture and commented on the Sentences with great success. Boniface VIII appointed him preacher at the papal court. On account of his virtues, he was honored with the title of Blessed.
Pietro de Alva y Astorga, publishing his Sermones for the Nativity and Purification of Mary (vol. I of the Biblioteca Mariana, p. 610), claims for him the honor of having introduced the practice of beginning sermons with the recitation of the Ave Maria. His fellow citizens erected a marble statue of him at the University, with an inscription in which he was called studiorum columna ac summus reipublicae Christiane splendor. Among his works are expositions on the Pentateuch and on all the epistles of St. Paul, as well as Collationes biblicae (manuscript). The following were printed: 4 libri In quattuor Evangelia (Venice 1476); Expositio Evangeliorum dominicalium et festivorum (Ulm 1480, Turin 1529, Paris 1544); Sermones quadragesimales (Venice 1523); Sermones de Sanctis (Venice 1584).
Alfonso de Romanis