Born at Castel
Gualtieri,
Italy, he was educated in
theology and law. He entered the
Canons Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara and was elected prior in 1180. He became
Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and a year later was appointed
Bishop of Vercelli. He served the
papacy as a mediator and diplomat between
Pope Clement III and
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Albert served as
papal legate in 1199 and helped end the war between
Parma and
Piacenza. In 1205 he was made Patriarch of Jerusalem by
Pope Innocent III, whom he also served as papal legate in the
Holy Land. As patriarch, Albert helped found the Carmelites around 1209, in particular by his composition of what came to be called the
Carmelite Rule of St. Albert. This order was based on
Mount Carmel, across the Bay of Haifa from
Acre where he resided as patriarch. Additionally, he mediated disputes between the
Kingdom of Jerusalem and the
Kingdom of Cyprus and between the
Knights Templar and the
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. In 1214 he had been invited to the
Fourth Lateran Council, but the Master of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, whom he had rebuked and deposed for immorality, stabbed him to death on 14 September while taking part in a procession on the
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. He was succeeded by
Raoul of Merencourt. ==See also==