ON ST. ALBERT, CONFESSOR, CISTERCIAN MONK.
AT SESTRI NEAR GENOA.
Brief Notice.
Albert, Confessor, monk of the Cistercian Order, at Sestri near Genoa in Italy (S.)
J. B. S.
We here produce a Saint, by profession a Cistercian monk, whom nevertheless the writers of that Order, however most diligent collectors of illustrious men, seem hitherto to have been ignorant of, equally with Ferrarius, who in neither of his Catalogues, otherwise filled with so many Saints, ever mentions him even by a word. Nor would it easily have been possible for us to come to the knowledge of him, had there not been found among the papers of our Elders a letter of our John Stephen Fliscus, in the year 1683 answering from Genoa to Papebroch concerning the things which he had asked about this Saint. He himself had found, I think, among the proper Offices of the holy Genoese church, or rather in the Kalendar of feasts, published in the year 1640, on the 8th day of this month read thus: Of Albert of Genoa, Confessor, double. But since concerning him elsewhere he had obtained neither palm nor footprint, he held nothing more urgent than to have recourse to his fellow Fliscus, from whom he might obtain whatever concerning such a Saint, elsewhere plainly unknown, was either written at Genoa, or at least handed down by common opinion. He did diligently what was asked; and from his letter you will understand that this Saint Albert is indeed truly venerated at Genoa, but that his life, age, and whatever pertains to his deeds, is utterly unknown. The words of Fliscus we will report as our own.
[2] St. Albert, of whom your Reverence writes, is no other than he of whom the feast is celebrated on the 8th of July, and whose eulogy is read described from the Martyrology which our Archbishops composed for the church of Genoa, to be prefixed to the reading of the Roman Martyrology, in these words, which I subjoin: On the 8th day of July. At Genoa, the deposition of St. Albert, Cistercian monk and confessor, who, conspicuous for sanctity and the glory of miracles, leading an eremitical life, rested in the Lord in a good old age. His body, laid up in a church dedicated to God under his name, outside the same city, is honored by a great concourse of people. The church of which in this eulogy (again the words are Fliscus's) is situated on a certain mountain near the town of Sestri, commonly Sestri di Ponente, from which it is distant nearly one thousand five hundred paces. The virtues and honors of this holy Man lie hidden from us; and although knowledge of them has been sought by many, it could not be found. Whence I have nothing to add, says Fliscus, nor have I anything which, after useless investigations, I could adjoin from elsewhere.