The Feast of St. Raymund of Pennafort
January 23rd is the Feast Day of a holy Saint from the 13th century, St. Raymund of Pennafort, a man renowned for his love of Jesus Christ and Holy Mother Church, who had a deep devotion to Our Lady and a zeal for the salvation of souls and conversion of infidels. May we ask for His intercession that we would likewise have a profound love for Almighty God and for Our Blessed Mother Mary, as well as a heart that seeks to plant seeds for conversion of those blinded by the poison of error, especially those with the most hardened hearts. May we imitate him in his holiness and piety so that, together with the good Saint, we too may one day glorify God in Heaven forever.
The following account comes from Butler's Lives of the Saints:
BORN A. D. 1175, of a noble Spanish family, Raymund, at the age of twenty, taught philosophy at Barcelona with marvellous success. Ten years later his rare abilities won for him the degree of Doctor in the University of Bologna, and many high dignities. A tender devotion to our blessed Lady, which had grown up with him from childhood, determined him in middle life to renounce all his honors and to enter her Order of St. Dominic. There, again, a vision of the Mother of Mercy instructed him to coöperate with his penitent St. Peter Nolasco, and with James, King of Aragon, in founding the Order of Our Lady of Ransom for the Redemption of Captives. He began this great work by preaching a crusade against the Moors, and rousing to penance the Christians, enslaved in both soul and body by the infidel.
King James of Aragon, a man of great qualities, but held in bond by a ruling passion, was bidden by the Saint to put away the cause of his sin. On his delay, Raymund asked for leave to depart from Majorca, since he could not live with sin. The king refused, and forbade, under pain of death, his conveyance by others. Full of faith, Raymund spread his cloak upon the waters, and, tying one end to his staff as a sail, made the sign of the cross and fearlessly stepped upon it. In six hours he was borne to Barcelona, where, gathering up his cloak dry, he stole into his monastery. The king, overcome by this miracle, became a sincere penitent and the disciple of the Saint till his death.
In 1230, Gregory IX. summoned Raymund to Rome, made him his confessor and grand penitentiary, and directed him to compile "The Decretals," a collection of the scattered decisions of the Popes and Councils. Having refused the archbishopric of Tarragona, Raymund found himself in 1238 chosen third General of his Order; which post he again succeeded in resigning, on the score of his advanced age. His first act when set free was to resume his labors among the infidels, and in 1256 Raymund, then eighty-one, was able to report that ten thousand Saracens had received Baptism. He died A. D. 1275.
Reflection.—Ask St. Raymund to protect you from that fearful servitude, worse than any bodily slavery, which even one sinful habit tends to form.
The following prayers are offered today at the Holy Mass in commemoration of the Holy Saint:
Commemoration of St. Raymond of Peñafort, Confessor
Collects: O GOD, Who didst elect Blessed Raymond to be an eminent minister of the Sacrament of Penance, and didst miraculously guide him through the waves of the sea, grant that by his intercession, we may bring forth worthy fruits of penance, and reach the haven of eternal life.
Secrets: WE OFFER UNTO THEE, O Lord, the sacrifice of praise, in remembrance of Thy saints; through whose intercession we trust to be delivered both from present and future ills.
Post Communions: REFRESHED WITH THIS heavenly food and drink, we humbly beseech Thee, our God, that we may be protected by his prayers in whose remembrance we have received them.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We love you. Save souls. Amen.
St. Raymund of Pennafort, pray for us.
