Nicolò Albertini

Nicolò Albertini, O.P. (c. 1250 – 27 April 1321), was an Italian Dominican friar, statesman, and cardinal.

Early life Albertini was born about 1250 in the city of Prato, then in the County of Prato, part of the Holy Roman Empire, to parents who both belonged to illustrious families of Tuscany.

Albertini's early education was directed by his parents. At the age of sixteen (1266) he entered the novitiate of the Dominican Order at the Priory of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, He was entrusted by his superiors with various important duties and governed several houses. He was made Procurator General of the whole Order of St. Dominic by Blessed Nicolo Bocassini, then Master General, and was afterwards elected Prior Provincial of the Roman Province. In 1299 Pope Boniface VIII appointed him Bishop of Spoleto and soon afterwards sent him as Papal Legate to the Kings of France and England, Philip IV and Edward I, with a view to reconciling them, a seemingly hopeless task.

Albertini succeeded in his mission. The pope in full consistory thanked him, and made him Vicar of Rome. Pope Benedict XI was particularly attached to Albertini, with whom he had lived a long time in the same cloister. Shortly after his accession to the papacy (22 October 1303) he made Albertini the Bishop of Ostia,

On 29 June 1312, in the name of Pope Clement V, Albertini crowned Henry of Luxembourg as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome. He was later the leading judge in the trial that exonerated the Dominican friar, Bernardo da Montepulciano, from the charge of killing Henry by giving him a poisoned host at a Mass. He crowned Robert of Naples, son and successor of Charles II of Naples, as King of Sicily.

As Cardinal Bishop of Ostia e Velletri and Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, Albertini served as an elector in the papal conclave from 1 May 1314 to 7 August 1316, the longest papal conclave in history, which elected Pope John XXII.

Albertini was Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals from August 1312 until his death at Avignon. He was buried in the Dominican Church there.

The Cardinal of Ostia was known for his great love for the poor, especially for the poor of the City of Prato. He also gave generously to religious houses and towards the erection of churches. At Avignon he established a community of nuns similar to those founded by St. Dominic