Albert was born about 1200 at Lauingen on the Danube, in Swabia, and studied at Padua, where he entered the Order of Preachers in the early 1220s, drawn by Jordan of Saxony. He taught in the order's German houses and then at Paris, where he became a master of theology in 1245. In 1248 he went to Cologne to found the order's house of higher studies, taking with him his pupil Thomas Aquinas.
His curiosity was boundless. He wrote commentaries on nearly all of Aristotle, on Scripture and on Dionysius the Areopagite, and studied plants, animals and minerals with his own eyes. He served as provincial of the Dominicans in Germany from 1254 to 1257 and as bishop of Regensburg from 1260 until his resignation was accepted in 1262, so that he could return to preaching and teaching. He died at Cologne on 15 November 1280.
Albert the Great in the library (1 work)
- On Union with God (attributed to Albert the Great) — 14th century; translation 1911
A short classic on detachment and clinging to God alone, long printed under Albert the Great's name.