BL. ALBERT OF SARTEANO. — Franciscan preacher and missionary, born at Sarteano (Siena) into the Berdini family in 1385, died at Milan on 15 August 1450. He entered the Friars Minor in 1405, adhered to the Observance in 1415, and distinguished himself, especially in the schools of Verona, in humanistic studies, opposing the pagan trend of Beccadelli. Preacher at Modena and in Tuscany, he followed the school of St. Bernardino of Siena, working with him until he was called by Eugenius IV (1435), together with other Franciscans, to begin negotiations with the Easterners in view of the Council of Florence (v.), which was to bring about the reunion of the Eastern Churches with Rome. Having gone to Jerusalem in 1436, he negotiated with the Greeks and concluded the agreement; then (1440), together with the counterfeit Thomas Bellacci, he returned to Jerusalem and negotiated with the Ethiopian monks residing there. Having gone on to Egypt, he met with the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, from whom, together with Ethiopian and Coptic representatives, he went to Florence (1441). He had to give up the journey to Ethiopia because the Sultan of Egypt would not grant him
BL. ALBERT OF SARTEANO — BL. ALBERT OF TRENT
the safe-conduct. He commissioned Bellacci to attempt, by way of the Persian Gulf, to reach that country and to deliver the papal brief, addressed to the most dear son Prester John (who at that time was Zara Yaqob, anything but favourable to union), to the emperor.
Bellacci’s expedition ended tragically. Meanwhile the Ethiopian and Coptic delegates were joyfully received in Florence and Rome. Albert’s missions were crowned with three conciliar bulls, respectively sanctioning union with the Greeks, with the Armenians, and with the Ethiopians and Copts. The last bull, Cantate Domino (1442), laboriously drafted like the others, bore the marks of the uncertainties that dominated Albert’s arduous embassy, arising from the ambiguous legal and moral position of the Eastern delegates and from the deficient knowledge of languages, history, and the mentality of the East. The Order of Friars Minor venerated Albert as a blessed.