Saint Raymond Nonnatus

The shepherds from the surrounding area, often seeing our Saint go to this other sacred place, were curious to know what he was doing there: and, as they always found him in prayer and on his knees, or prostrate before the image of the Blessed Virgin, instead of being touched by such palpable piety, they saw it as simplicity and a waste of time; their malice went so far as to accuse him, to his father, of neglecting the care of his flocks. The father, unable to believe such cowardice from a son who had always been perfectly obedient to him, resolved to come himself to verify the truth of the matter. He left shortly after, and took the path to the mountain where his son was accustomed to go; but, when he arrived at the place where his flock was grazing, he was very surprised to see a young boy of admirable beauty and all radiant with light, who was guarding it. The sight of him inspired such respect that, not daring to approach him, he passed by to go down to the hermitage of which he had been told, and he indeed found his son on his knees and praying before the image of the Blessed Virgin; he watched him for some time in this state, then he asked him who this beautiful young man was to whom he had entrusted the care of his flock. Raymond, who was unaware of this miracle of divine Providence, not knowing what to answer, threw himself at his feet and, bursting into tears, asked his forgiveness for his negligence. The father, who knew by this conduct that all this was the work of the hand of God, gave thanks for it, and not wishing to interrupt his son's devotion any further, he returned home very content and full of joy. Raymond, for his part, quite troubled by this adventure, returned to the feet of his heavenly Mother for consolation; she clarified this mystery for him and declared that it was she who had sent an angel to guard his sheep, while he was occupied in serving her.

Such a rare favor filled Raymond's heart with great confidence in Mary; he prayed to her insistently to let him know the state in which he could be most pleasing to her. This amiable Mistress, touched by the fervor of such a faithful disciple, appeared to him in a sensible form, as she had already done several other times, and told him that her desire was for him to leave this solitude and go to Barcelona, to take the religious habit there in Barcelone City where he worked as a shoemaker and entered religious life. an Order that was established in her name, under the title of Our Lady of Mercy or of the Redemption of Captives. Raymond received this news with incredible joy, and after having asked, by order of the same Virgin, the Count of Cardona to obtain his father's consent to this vocation, he was sent by him to Barcelona, where he was admitted to the novitiate and received the habit of the Order of Mercy from the han ds of Saint Peter Ordre de la Merci Religious order dedicated to the redemption of Christian captives. Nolasco.

It is impossible to express with what fervor this holy religious walked the path of perfection; his piety appeared to everyone so high, so solid, and so eminent that, a few years after his profession, he was worthy of a task that required consummate virtue. Saint Serapion, a reli gious of the s Saint Sérapion Religious of the Order of Mercy, initially chosen for the mission in Africa. ame Order, had been chosen to make a journey among the barbarians in order to deliver captives; but, as he was on the point of leaving, an important matter obliged his superiors to take other measures and send him to England. It was necessary to appoint a redeemer in his place; he was asked for his opinion; he implored the lights from above for this, and was inspired to name Raymond, whose zeal he knew, and who had often revealed to him, as his novice master and director, the ardent desire he had to expose his life for such a dangerous and arduous undertaking, even though he was only thirty years old.

Raymond accepted this commission with great pleasure, and, shortly after, he crossed to Africa and stopped at the port of Algiers, a retreat for pirates, a market where infidel cors airs went wi port d'Alger City associated with the liturgical source of the text. th complete freedom to expose for sale the Christians they had taken as slaves in their raids. The number of these poor captives was then so great that the funds Saint Raymond had brought were not sufficient to ransom them all. But, as the charity of this generous redeemer was extreme, he did not want to leave any of these unfortunates in servitude; thus, after agreeing on the price of their ransom and distributing the money he had, he set them all free and gave himself as a hostage until the remainder of the payment arrived.

The holy personage, seeing himself loaded with chains, thanked God for having given him such a beautiful opportunity to endure something for the love of Him who suffered the death of the cross for the redemption of all men. One cannot describe the cruelties and outrages that the barbarians exercised upon him during the time of his captivity. They were so excessive that the cadi or judge of the place, who finally feared that these torments would cause him to die, which would have made them lose the sum for which he was a hostage, was forced to have it proclaimed by trumpet that no one was to mistreat him further, and that if he were to die, those by whom he had been mistreated would answer for it and pay the entire ransom that was expected for his deliverance.

Raymond took advantage of the little freedom that this truce gave him to exercise his charity in every way possible. He often went to visit the dungeons, where new Christians were continually being brought: he confirmed them in the faith and consoled them in their misfortunes; he even instructed the infidels, and he converted several of the most obstinate among them, among others, two Moors of high rank who received holy baptism from his hands.

These pious practices of Raymond could not remain so secret that the pasha, named Setim, did not become awar Sétim Pasha of Algiers who ordered the torture of Raymond. e of them; he was so enraged that he immediately ordered the saint to be impaled, and this cruel sentence would have been carried out if those interested in the ransom of the captives, whose place he held, had not moderated the anger of this barbarian: he therefore changed the punishment of death to that of a great number of blows with a stick, which he had discharged upon this innocent victim, with the inhumanity that is common to infidels.

This torture, violent as it was, was so little for his courage that it was not capable of stopping his zeal or preventing him from continuing to instruct those who showed him some desire to know the principles of the Christian religion, and to fortify the Christians whom the rigor of torments and chains, the boredom of prison, or the despair of being delivered made waver in the faith. The pasha was again informed of this holy boldness of Raymond: which made him rise to such an excess of violence that, after having him whipped naked at the corner of every street in the city, he ordered that he be led to the main market, that there the executioner would pierce his two lips with a hot iron, and would put a steel padlock on his mouth to prevent him from speaking; that the key would be under the guard of the cadi, who would only give it when he judged it necessary to let him eat; finally, that in this state, he would be thrown into a dungeon, loaded with chains and irons.

This illustrious Saint, instead of being saddened by such a sad fate, thanked God with all the extent of his heart; he could no longer open his mouth to publish His praises; but he opened his heart to speak to Him the language of love, through his prayers, his desires, and his transports. One day, when his spirit was strongly occupied with contemplation, he was carried away in an ecstasy so deep in the darkness of his dungeon that he remained for a long time in the suspension of all his senses: the Moors who were in charge of him, coming to bring him bread, found him in this state lying on the ground, his head resting on his left hand and pointing with his right hand, in a book, to this verse of Psalm 118: *Ne auferas de ore meo verbum veritatis usquequaque*: "My Lord and my God, never take the word of truth from my mouth." They were very surprised by this novelty; but their astonishment was much greater when, having brought him back to himself, they heard him, with his mouth all padlocked, pronounce in a loud voice this verse of Psalm 118: *In æternum, Domine, permanet verbum tuum*: "Your word, Lord, remains forever." However, these barbarians were hardened enough to attribute this wonder to an enchantment, so much so that, to force him to be silent, they beat him with sticks and kicked him, and left the padlock on his mouth, without giving him anything to eat that day.

Saint Raymond remained for eight months in these torments and in these anxieties, which he always suffered with admirable joy and constancy. At the end of this time, the religious of his Order arrived with the funds that had been agreed upon for his deliverance; they still had much difficulty, however, in withdrawing him from his captivity. The cadi, who was extremely greedy, feigned dissatisfaction, and the Saint himself, all ablaze with the fire of charity, would have liked to remain there entirely, for the consolation of the other slaves. He was nevertheless set at liberty and departed from Algiers, but not without reward for his labors; for the religious who accompanied him let him know th at Pope Gregory pape Grégoire IX Pope who attested to the miracles of Bruno. IX, having been informed of the wonders of his life and the purity of his actions, had raised him to the cardinalate, and that, as a singular mark of his affection, he had given him this dignity under the title of Saint-Eustache, which was the one he himself held when he was elected head of the Church. Raymond was so little moved by this news that, always preferring religious mortification, poverty, and modesty to all the honors of the world, he never wished to change his habit, his lodging, or his life; so that, having arrived in Barcelona, he returned to his convent and continued to live in the same way as he had done before, without ostentation and without any external pomp, even though the Count of Cardona had had an apartment prepared for him in his palace.

It was not enough that the blessed Raymond should be crowned by men; God also wished to crown him Himself. As his love and compassion for the unfortunate were without measure, it happened one winter day, the season being very harsh, that our Saint met in the streets an old poor man, poorly dressed and trembling with cold. This sight touched his heart deeply. He felt compassion for him, and, having embraced the poor man as if to warm him, he gave him alms and even gave him his own hat to cover him; so that he returned home bareheaded. The following night, Our Lord, to reward such a heroic action, showed him, in the fervor of his prayer, a very pleasant flowerbed, sown with a thousand different flowers: the Queen of Angels, and a great number of other virgins, were gathering these flowers and composing a crown of wonderful fragrance and beauty. A virgin of the company asked for whom this crown was: the Blessed Virgin replied that it was for him who had taken his hat from his head to cover that of a poor man. At the same time, this whole glorious troop approached him to place it on his head; far from rejoicing in it, our Saint was extremely afflicted by it, and, in the excess of his confusion and sorrow, he raised his complaint to heaven: "O unfortunate that I am, I have lost what I had gained! Alas! was I to receive in this world the reward for a small good that I had done only for the glory of God and to please my crucified Savior!" Scarcely had he finished these words when everything he had seen disappeared, and he found beside him only a poor, afflicted man, who had his head encircled with a crown of thorns. He looked at this poor man with attention, and, recognizing that it was Jesus Christ Himself, he wanted to throw himself at His feet to pay Him his homage. Then the Savior, taking this crown of thorns from His head, said to him: "Your holy Mother, my dear son, who is also mine, wished to crown you with flowers; but, since you desire no other glory in this world than that of my cross, behold, I bring you my thorns." Saint Raymond took this crown and placed it on his head, but with such violence that it brought him out of his trance. He was for a long time filled with the joy of what he had seen, and he retained from it this beautiful maxim, that all our good actions must be done purely for the love of God, and without seeking any other interest than that of His glory.

Pope Gregory IX, who learned daily of the wonders that God performed through his Servant, blessed Him a thousand times for having inspired him to choose such a great Saint to join the sacred college of cardinals, and, as he had an extreme desire to see him and keep him by his side to follow his counsel, he ordered him to come and meet him in Rome. Raymond's humility led him to despise all these honors to which he saw himself called; but, not wishing to lose the merit of the obedience he owed to the Holy See, he prepared himself to satisfy the will of His Holiness. For this purpose, he went to ask for the blessing of Saint Peter Nolasco, founder of his Order, whom he always recognized as his superior, cardinal though he was; he also went to the Count of Cardona, whose spiritual father he was, to pay him his final visits.

His entire Congregation and all of Catalonia expected great benefits from this journey; but it pleased God, through the impenetrable secrets of His Providence, to make these hopes very short-lived: for, as soon as the blessed Raymond had entered the house of the Count of Cardona, which was two days' journey from B arcelona, he was seized by maison du comte de Cardone Place of the saint's death and domain of the Count of Cardona. a very violent fever, accompanied by convulsions and all the symptoms that could be signs of an approaching death. He wished to prepare himself for it by the ordinary means that the Church offers to all the faithful. But the Mercedarian friars depended on the local parish priest, who was absent; it was necessary to wait for him to administer the last Sacraments. Then this divine man, who feared dying without being provided with the holy Viaticum, raised his eyes to heaven and prayed to God not to allow him to be deprived of this good which he desired with such ardor, although he recognized himself as unworthy of it; and immediately there entered, through the door of the room where he was lying, in the presence of the Count, the friars, and several other people who were assisting him, a beautiful procession of unknown men, dressed in white habits, like the Fathers of Mercy, and each holding a lighted torch in his hand. Our Lord followed them, holding a holy ciborium in his hands; but the light he shed was so great that all those in the assembly were dazzled by it: so that no one could see what happened in the aftermath of such a miraculous action.

It lasted a good half-hour; after which the procession returned in the same order it had come, with this difference only, that upon coming, the friars had only appeared from the door of the room to around the bed, and, upon returning, they took the path to the river that waters the foot of the village, and crossed it on dry land, walking on the waters as on firm ground, and then disappeared. The Count and all the assistants, who had gone out to see the end of this wonder, found upon their return the holy Cardinal, his knees on the ground, his eyes bathed in tears, his face and hands raised toward heaven, and as if emerging from a deep rapture; he was asked what had happened; but he said only this word of David: "How good is the God of Israel to those who have a right and innocent heart!" Finally, he confessed that he had received the most august Sacrament of our altars. Thus, all his desires being fulfilled, shortly after he rendered his spirit to his Creator, while pronouncing these words of the Savior expiring on the cross: "My God, I commend my soul into your hands"; which happened in the year of Our Lord 1240, sixteen years before the death of Saint Peter Nolasco.

His face, after his death, became beautiful and radiant like that of Moses, when he descended from the mountain, where he had just spoken with God; and, although the heat of the season was extreme, and was further increased by the great concourse of people who came from all sides to honor his precious remains, his body nevertheless never gave any sign of corruption; on the contrary, it spread throughout the room an odor more sweet than balm and the most precious perfumes, and many supernatural healings even took place in favor of those whom piety had brought there and who had the happiness of touching him.

However, it was necessary to think about the place where such a precious treasure would be deposited, and a new dispute arose on this subject between the Count of Cardona, who wanted to keep him, and the Mercedarian friars, who wanted to take him to their convent. To appease their contention, it was agreed that the holy body would be placed in a casket and then loaded onto a blind mule, which would be guided only by its own instinct, and that the place where it would stop would be chosen for this burial. This agreement was faithfully executed: for, the mule, having walked for some time, finally stopped near the hermitage of Saint Nicholas, where the servant of God had seen his devotion to the Blessed Virgin born, and where this good Mother had made him taste her favors. It was never possible to make this beast go any further: it circled the hermitage three times, and then it fell dead at the door of the chapel. It was recognized that the will of God was that the sacred relics of Saint Raymond Nonnatus be deposited in this place, as they were in fact.

This blessed redeemer had performed many miracles during his life. By his blessing, he had delivered all of Catalonia from a contagious disease that was killing livestock and bringing desolation and famine everywhere; even in his absence, he had prevented a lady falsely accused of adultery from being killed by her husband, by rendering the dagger blows he struck against her useless and without effect, although the man certainly believed he had killed her. He had provided a thousand extraordinary aids, both spiritual and temporal, to those who had recommended themselves to his prayers. We have just said that he performed even more shortly after his death and before his burial; but those he performed at his tomb, in this chapel of Saint Nicholas, as soon as he was laid there, are without number... This is what compelled Saint Peter Nolasco to ask the Abbot and the Chapter of Solsoua, later erected into a bishopric, for the ownership of this chapel, which belonged to them, in order to build a convent of his Order there. His request was granted, and the convent he had built there has since grown significantly. It was there that the holy Cardinal appeared to him in the immense glory he enjoyed, and let him know that the following year (1256), he would come to possess the delights of eternal happiness with him. He continues to perform similar wonders, particularly for the relief of women dying in the pains of childbirth, for the preservation of domestic animals and livestock recommended to him, for the vindication of the falsely accused, and for the relief of the sick afflicted with fever. Benedict XIII, whom France and Spain held to b e Pope, pla Benoît XIII Pope who established the Institute as a religious Order in 1725. ced him among the Saints: this was ratified not only by the Council of Constance but also by many Popes who followed him. He has since been pl Concile de Constance Council that ratified the sainthood of Raymond. aced in the Roman Martyrology and Breviary, and his office is now celebrated throughout the Christian world.

Before finishing this life, we must note that several historians distinguish two journeys he made to Barbary for the deliverance of captives: one, under the auspices of Saint Serapion, where he did not remain as a hostage; the other, as leader, which is the one we have spoken of. They add that between these two journeys he was elected procurator general of his Order, and that in this capacity he went to Rome, where he worked generously to obtain the Bulls of confirmation for this holy institute. It was there that he became known to Pope Gregory IX, who was then only a cardinal, and to the other members of the Sacred College; this is why, later, this Pope, being informed of the wonders he was performing in Algiers, raised him himself to the dignity of cardinal; he was only recalled to Spain for his second journey to Africa. Other authors do not make this distinction and attribute only one journey to him; but it is more likely that he made two. All the chronicles of this Order speak of him with great honor.

He is represented: 1st with a padlock on his lips; 2nd sometimes with three or even four crowns, and the palm is also added; 3rd with a crown of thorns on his head: this representation is not frequent, but it relates to a feature of the Saint's life; 4th with a monstrance in his hand, to indicate that, as he was dying and the priest who was to bring him the holy viaticum could not be found, angels came to present it to him.

His life has been printed in Latin, Spanish, Italian, and French. We have a fine summary of it in the Martyrology of the Saints of Spain, on November 14, the day his venerable image was placed with great honor, by Cardinal Virginius Orsini, in his titular church of Saint Eustace in Rome.