November 15
The saints and feasts remembered on November 15, each with a short life, a Bible passage and a prayer.
Saint Albert the Great
Dominican friar who studied God's creation and taught Thomas Aquinas
Albert was born around 1200 in Lauingen, in Swabia (southern Germany). While studying in Padua he joined the new Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, and spent his life as a friar, teacher and writer. He taught in Paris and Cologne, where one of his students was the young Thomas Aquinas.
Albert wanted to understand everything: the Bible and theology, but also plants, animals, minerals and the stars. He wrote long commentaries on Aristotle and often noted what he had checked with his own eyes instead of repeating old claims. He also led the German Dominicans and, from 1260, briefly served as bishop of Regensburg before resigning to return to teaching. Dominicans of his time travelled on foot, and he covered great distances that way.
He died in Cologne on 15 November 1280. Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931, he is remembered as a believer who saw no conflict between faith and careful study of the world.
How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
Psalm 104:24 · BSB
A prayer
God of all wisdom, you gave Albert a mind eager to know your world and a heart ready to serve your Church. Give us curiosity that does not grow proud, and faith that is not afraid to ask questions, so that in all we learn we may come to know and love you more. Amen.
Saint Raphael Kalinowski
Soldier and Siberian prisoner who became a Carmelite friar and patient confessor
Józef Kalinowski was born in 1835 in Vilnius, then part of the Russian Empire. He trained as a military engineer, served as an officer in the Russian army and worked on railway projects. In 1863 he joined the uprising against Russian rule and took charge of its military affairs in Lithuania.
Arrested in 1864, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence was changed to ten years of hard labour in Siberia. In the prison camps his faith deepened, and fellow prisoners remembered his kindness and calm. After his release he became tutor to the young prince August Czartoryski. In 1877 he entered the Discalced Carmelites in Graz, Austria, taking the name Raphael.
Ordained a priest in 1882, he helped rebuild Carmelite life in Polish lands and founded a monastery in Wadowice, where he died in 1907. He spent long hours hearing confessions, helping people make peace with God. Pope John Paul II canonised him in 1991.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
2 Corinthians 5:17–18 · BSB
A prayer
Faithful God, you led Raphael Kalinowski from the battlefield and the prison camp to the quiet of prayer, and made him a patient minister of your mercy. Through suffering and loss, keep our hearts open to you, make us gentle with those who seek forgiveness, and teach us to bring others to your peace. Amen.
The lives are written with AI help from public-domain histories and checked before publishing; the prayers are ours. Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), in the public domain. How we write.