Saint Albert the Great Medal Necklace – Patron Saint of Scientists & Philosophers

Saint Albert the Great, Patron Saint of Scientists and Philosophers

Albert was born around 1200 in Lauingen, in what is now Bavaria, to a noble family, and studied at the University of Padua, where he first encountered the work of Aristotle. He joined the Dominican order and went on to teach at Paris and Cologne, where his knowledge spanned chemistry, physics, botany, zoology, astronomy, and mineralogy so completely that his contemporaries called him "Doctor Universalis," the universal teacher, and eventually simply Albertus Magnus, Albert the Great. He believed the study of nature was itself a legitimate path toward understanding God, at a time when that wasn't the assumed position of the Church. In Cologne he became the teacher and lifelong friend of a quiet, heavyset student everyone else dismissed as the Dumb Ox, a young man named Thomas Aquinas. Albert was the one who recognized what Thomas was capable of, and after Thomas's early death, Albert traveled to Paris himself to defend his former student's writing against those who wanted it condemned. Albert served briefly as Bishop of Regensburg before resigning to return to teaching and writing, producing work across nearly forty volumes before his death in 1280. He was canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931. This medal is worn by men and women alike.

A Gift For...

• Scientists, researchers, and lab technicians
• Medical technicians and healthcare students
• Philosophy and theology students
• A mentor or teacher who saw someone's potential before they saw it themselves
• Anyone who refuses to treat faith and science as opposites
• A graduation gift for a science or pre-med degree

A Confirmation Gift for Albert

Engrave "Fides et Ratio" (Latin for "faith and reason") on the first line and the confirmation date on the second. Albert suits a confirmand who is curious about everything, the kind of person who asks how something works and why it matters in the same breath.

The Saint Albert the Great Medal

Saint Albert the Great is shown half-length in a bishop's mitre and Dominican habit, holding a quill in one hand and an open book in the other, framed by a ring of floral scrollwork. The natural gold or silver of the metal forms the illustration itself. Black ink is applied to the pendant surface and the metal shows through as the image. A shatterproof liquid glass coating seals the surface. The result has a depth and precision that printed medals don't achieve.

Personalization and Engraving

The reverse can be engraved in Tangerine cursive, up to 2 lines of 20 characters each. Some ideas:

• "Fides et Ratio" / a graduation year
• "Doctor Universalis" / a field of study
  
• "Seek and understand" / a defense or exam date
  
• A lab or department name / "Class of 2028"

Saint Albert the Great's feast day is November 15. He was declared the patron saint of natural sciences in 1941, and his tomb rests in the crypt of St. Andrew's Church in Cologne, the same city where he once taught his most famous student.

Related Devotions for Scholars and Seekers of Truth

• Saint Thomas Aquinas Medal: Albert's own student, whose genius Albert was the first to recognize and later defended after his death.
• Saint Jerome Medal: another scholar-saint devoted to rigorous, exacting study in service of the faith.
• Graduation Gifts for Students & Scholars: see the rest of the collection, from Albert's own student Aquinas to Catherine of Alexandria.