He was one of the greatest philosophers of the Middle Ages, coming at the beginning of the great flowering that came with the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle. He had a great interest in science and astronomy and his learning gave him the title, as a Doctor of the Church, of Doctor Universalis, the “Universal Doctor.”

  In 1260 the Pope made him Bishop of Regensburg, a post that he held for three years before resigning it. He made great efforts to secure peace between people and between cities. He died at Cologne in 1280.

  See the articles in Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

  In the earliest centuries all vestments were white – the white of baptismal purity and of the robes worn by the armies of the redeemed in the Apocalypse, washed white in the blood of the Lamb. As the Church grew secure enough to be able to plan her liturgy, she began to use colour so that our sense of sight could deepen our experience of the mysteries of salvation, just as incense recruits our sense of smell and music that of hearing. Over the centuries various schemes of colour for feasts and seasons were worked out, and it is only as late as the 19th century that they were harmonized into their present form.