ALBERT OF SARTENA, Blessed. - Franciscan preacher and missionary, b. at Sarteano (Siena), of the Berdini family, in 1585, d. at Milan on 15 Aug. 1450. Having entered the Friars Minor (1405), he joined the Observance (1415) and distinguished himself, especially in the schools of Verona, in humanistic studies, opposing the pagan tendency of Beccadelli. A preacher at Modena and in Tuscany, he followed the school of St. Bernardino of Siena, working alongside him as well, until he was summoned by Eugene IV (1435), together with other Franciscans, to begin negotiations with the Easterners, with a view to the Council of Florence (v.), which was 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 confrere Tommaso Bellacci, he returned to Jerusalem and negotiated with the Ethiopian monks residing there. Having passed into Egypt, he met with the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, whence, together with the Ethiopian and Coptic representatives, he went to Florence (1441). He had to give up the journey to Ethiopia, because the Egyptian sultan did not grant him the safe-conduct. He charged Bellacci to attempt, by way of the Persian Gulf, to reach that country and to carry to the emperor (who was then Zara Yaqob, anything but favorable to the union) the papal brief, addressed to the dearest son priest John.

Bellacci's expedition ended tragically. Meanwhile the Ethiopian and Coptic delegates were received with jubilation at Florence and at Rome. A.'s missions were concluded with three conciliar bulls, sanctioning, respectively, the union with the Greeks, with the Armenians, with the Ethiopians and Copts. This last bull, Cantate Domino (1442), laboriously drafted, like and more than the others, was affected by the uncertainties that dominated A.'s laborious embassy, arising from the equivocal juridical and moral position of the Eastern delegates and from the deficient knowledge of the languages, history, and mentality of the East. The Order of Friars Minor venerates A. as blessed.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: L. Wadding, Annales Minorum, VIII, X, XI, Quaracchi 1932. - B. Neri, La vita e i propri del b. A., Florence 1902; Pastor, I, passim: T. da Somigli, Etiopia francescana, I, Quaracchi 1928; G. Hofmann, Kopter und Aethiopier auf dem Konzil von Florenz, in Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 8 (1922), pp. 5-39.

Egilberto Martire

@incollection{ec1_alberto_da_sarteano_beato, author = {Martire, Egilberto}, title = {Alberto da Sarteano, beato}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {694--695}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/alberto-da-sarteano-beato} }

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Albert of Sartena, Blessed

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