ALBERTO da PADOVA. - Augustinian preacher, born in Padua perhaps in 1269, died in 1323 (or 1328). He completed his studies and earned his doctorate at the Sorbonne, where for several years he successfully expounded Scripture and commented on the Sentences. Boniface VIII wished him to be preacher at the papal court. For his virtues he was honored with the title of blessed.
Pietro de Alva y Astorga, in publishing his Sermons for the Nativity and the Purification of Mary (vol. I of the Bibliotheca Mariana, p. 610), claims for him the honor of having introduced the custom of beginning sermons with the recitation of the Hail Mary. His fellow citizens erected a marble statue to him at the University, with an inscription in which he was called "studiorum columna ac summus reipublicae Christianae splendor." Among his works are expositions on the Pentateuch and on all the epistles of St. Paul, and Biblical Conferences (in manuscript). The following were printed: 4 books 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