Students and the entire Catholic community of Michigan Tech last week celebrated the feast day of their patron saint, St. Albert the Great. The celebrations started on Friday, Nov. 10, at 4:30 p.m. with confessions and Holy Mass.
This was followed by a community meal before the hockey game between Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan University. The game was shown on the big screen television by the fireplace in the basement of the church. After the hockey match ended, there were games, a feast of deep-fried turkey, and fireworks.
Two Masses were celebrated on Sunday at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to conclude the feast. The 11 a.m. Mass was followed by a solemn brunch where the students and the entire community ate together.
In his homily during the 11 a.m. Mass, Rev. Fr. Ben Hasse said, “although St. Albert’s feast day is November 15th, I continue our tradition here of transferring the celebration of the feast to one of the nearby Sunday’s for our fuller celebration!”
Hasse said the Catholic church instituted the tradition of patron saints so that “we would call upon our patron saints in times of need, that we would seek their intercession for our loved ones and friends, and that we would learn from the rich treasure of their lives and writings.”
Speaking about St. Albert the Great, Hasse commented “St. Albert loved God, loved and served God’s Church, and he loved science… what a wonderful patron for our St. Al’s community! By God’s grace and St. Albert’s intercession, may we love God, serve His Church, and use our gifts and talents well.”
Feast days in the Roman Catholic church are days of remembering significant people and events from the beginning of the Christian religion. The people whose feasts are celebrated are those that the church declared as saints through the process of canonization. A saint’s feast day can be the day of their actual death or a day assigned by the church. The saint for the Michigan Tech Catholic community is St. Albert the Great.
Born in Lauingen, Swabia (now southern Germany) in his family’s castle along the Danube River around the year 1200 AD, St. Albert joined the Order of Preachers, popularly known as the Dominicans, in 1223 while a student at the University of Padua. He became widely renowned for his knowledge of the natural sciences, and also as the teacher and mentor of St. Thomas Aquinas. He studied and taught in Paris, Köln (Cologne), and Rome. In 1260 he was named bishop of Regensburg (Ratisbon). In 1262 he resigned his bishopric position and returned to teaching and research. He died on Nov. 15, 1280, in Cologne, where he is buried in St. Andrea’s Church. Pope Pius XI canonized him in 1931, and also named him a “Doctor of the Church.” He is the patron of the natural sciences, scientists, and students.
