Domain: Albany, NY
Date of Death: September 2003
Biography: Of Monseigneur Albert Karris’ early years little is know with certainty. It is generally accepted that he was an American by birth and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest sometime between the two world wars. He was embraced in Europe during the war probably while serving as a military chaplain by Konrad Richtor (then serving the Nazi SS).
He is believed to have moved around Europe for a period in the decades following the war. But it was after his arrival in Albany in 2002 that Karris gained fame or notoriety depending on whom one asks. His renown as a humanitarian and a man of intense religious faith spread throughout the Camarilla. He acquired a reputation as a mystic over whom many of the gifts of the blood appeared to have little power. It was said that those who had embraced evil or who had fallen too far from their humanity felt a profound discomfort in his presence. Some kindred who had drifted from their humanity were called back from the edge of the abyss by him and he was reputed to have a great power over the conscience of even the most depraved, both kindered and kine alike. On several occasions he is known to have repelled powerful Sabbat including at least one elder without weapons or violence. Some powerful kindred called him a religious fanatic and a danger to the Camarilla, including such luminaries of the Camarilla as Richtor Barnes and Dean Famularo. Others called him a saint.
Towards the end, Sadie the Brujah Prince of Albany sentenced him to death by torture which his sire enthusiastically volunteered to perform. However he was granted sanctuary by the Ventrue Prince of Hudson Valley and Praetor of the North East James Roland from whom he had previously received the Coeur de Lion for his heroism in a fierce battle with a Lasombra Elder. Not long afterwards Fr. Karris was assassinated by his sire, who violated the hospitality of Prince Roland and fled the domain after the deed.
A rumor persists that when Konrad Richtor struck the head of Fr. Karris from his body that it was preserved from corruption and his sire being unable to abide its presence sent it in a box to Prince Roland. If this is true its whereabouts are not now known. It is however known that Karris possessed a sword of extraordinary beauty and high craft that he had made for his close friend the late Atrus Thorne of clan Tremere. However it was discovered that no kindred save Karris could touch the sword without suffering great harm, and most would not willingly be near it. The sword is rumored to have had the relics of a saint imbedded in its blade and to have been blessed in some great ritual. Karris carried it religiously. It disappeared on the night of his death and its whereabouts remain a mystery.
The legacy of Fr. Karris is highly controversial. His loyalty to the clan never appears to have taken precedence over his religious faith and some of his actions were controversial. However many recall him as a light in a very dark world. The question remains, was he a religious fanatic and madman or a martyred saint?