ALBERTO da SARTEANO, blessed. — Franciscan preacher and missionary, born at Sarteano (Siena), of the Berdini family, in 1585, died at Milan on 15 August 1450. He entered the Friars Minor (1405), adhered to the Observance (1415), and distinguished himself, especially in the schools of Verona, in humanistic studies, opposing Beccadelli’s pagan orientation. A preacher in Modena and Tuscany, he followed the school of s. Bernardino da Siena, also working with him, until he was summoned by Eugenius IV (1435), together with other Franciscans, to initiate negotiations with the Easterners, in view of the Council of Florence (v.), which was intended to bring about the reunion of the Churches of the East with Rome. Having gone to Jerusalem in 1436, he negotiated with the Greeks and concluded the agreement; then (1440), with his fellow friar Tommaso Bellacci, he returned to Jerusalem and negotiated with the Ethiopian monks residing there. Moving on to Egypt, he met with the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, from where, together with the Ethiopian and Coptic representatives, he went to Florence (1441). He had to abandon the journey to Ethiopia because the Egyptian sultan did not grant him a safe-conduct. He charged Bellacci with attempting, by way of the Persian Gulf, to reach that country and deliver to the emperor (who at that time was Zara Iäeqob, by no means favorable to union) the papal brief addressed to the dearest son, the priest Gianni.
Bellacci’s expedition ended tragically. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian and Coptic delegates were received with rejoicing in Florence and Rome. A.’s missions culminated in three conciliar bulls, sanctioning, respectively, union with the Greeks, with the Armenians, and with the Ethiopians and Copts. The last of these bulls, Cantate Domino (1442), laboriously drafted, like and even more than the others, reflected the uncertainties that dominated A.’s arduous embassy, arising from the ambiguous juridical and moral position of the Eastern delegates and from the inadequate knowledge of the languages, history, and mentality of the East. The Order of Friars Minor venerates A. as blessed.