.jpg)
Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra (1616–1668), San Ramón Nonato (1204-1240), religioso de la Orden de la Merced, circa 1640, Museo Camón Aznar
Saint Raymond Nonnat
Prêtre de l'Ordre de la
Merci (+ 1240)
Religieux de l'Ordre de Notre-Dame de la Merci, il se livra lui-même en otage pour obtenir la libération d'un prisonnier à Tunis. Il se consacra à l'évangélisation de ses compagnons d'infortune. Pour cette raison ses geôliers lui mirent aux lèvres un cadenas qu'on n'ouvrait que pour les repas.
Il fut libéré grâce à une rançon, et revint à Rome comme procureur de son Ordre.
Il rencontra saint Louis, envoyé par le Pape pour décider le roi de France à partir en croisade.
Quelques mois avant sa mort, il fut nommé cardinal et mourut à Barcelone.
Son nom n'est pas celui de sa famille car sa mère est morte à sa naissance et il a dû être mis au monde par césarienne (nonnatus='non né').
À Cardona près de Barcelone, vers 1240, saint Raymond Nonnat, qui fut un des
premiers compagnons de saint Pierre
Nolasque dans l'Ordre de Notre-Dame de la Merci et souffrit beaucoup,
rapporte-t-on, au nom du Christ pour le rachat des captifs.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1770/Saint-Raymond-Nonnat.html
.jpg)
Francisco Pacheco (1564–1644), Aparición
de la Virgen María a San Ramón Nonato, circa 1600, 207 x 250, Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla,
Seville
Saint Raymond Nonnat
Cardinal
(1201-1240)
Saint Raymond Nonnat
perdit sa mère dès sa naissance. Dès l'usage de la raison, se voyant sans mère
ici-bas, il se choisit Marie pour Mère. La Sainte Vierge et Son dévot serviteur
rivalisaient de dévouement l'un pour l'autre. Partout le pieux enfant saluait
l'image de sa Mère céleste, il trouvait chaque jour mille moyens de L'honorer.
Le démon lui étant apparu un jour sous la forme d'un berger, pour le tenter,
Raymond le reconnut, appela Marie à son aide, et le tentateur disparut avec un
cri horrible. Son père, ayant entendu dire que la dévotion de son fils lui
faisait négliger la garde de son troupeau, vint un jour l'épier et fut ravi
d'admiration de voir un beau jeune homme éclatant de lumière garder le troupeau
pendant que Raymond se livrait à la prière dans une chapelle voisine, aux pieds
de l'image de la Vierge.
Raymond était arrivé à
l'âge de fixer son avenir. Marie calma ses inquiétudes en lui révélant qu'il
devait aller à Barcelone et se faire recevoir dans l'Ordre de
Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci pour la rédemption des captifs.
Après un noviciat plein
de ferveur, il fut envoyé en Afrique, où, n'ayant pas assez d'argent pour
racheter tous les prisonniers, il se donna lui-même en otage, afin de les
mettre tous en liberté, et ne fut délivré que quand le surplus du payement fut
arrivé. Il souffrit avec joie tous les outrages de la captivité en union avec
le Rédempteur des âmes outragé pour les péchés du monde. Un jour, il faillit
être empalé pour avoir instruit et converti plusieurs infidèles; mais le supplice
fut changé en coups de bâton. La bouche cadenassée, il chantait encore les
louanges divines, ce qui fut attribué à des enchantements et donna lieu à une
persécution nouvelle.
Après sa délivrance, qui
fut moins pour lui un sujet de joie qu'un sujet de tristesse, il fut élevé au
cardinalat; mais, rentré dans son couvent, il y mena la même vie simple
qu'auparavant, et ne consentit à changer ni d'habit, ni de logement, ni de
genre de vie. Un jour très froid d'hiver, il avait donné son chapeau à un
pauvre vieillard mendiant; la nuit suivante, la Sainte Vierge vint, accompagnée
de plusieurs Saints, déposer une couronne sur sa tête.
Près de mourir, il reçut
la Communion des mains de Jésus-Christ.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_raymond_nonnat.html
.jpg)
Jerónimo Jacinto de Espinosa (1600–),
San Ramón Nonato, circa 1630, 245 x 180, Museo del Prado, Madrid
31 août: Saint Raymond
Nonnat
août 31, 2025
Une vie consacrée au
rachat des prisonniers chrétiens
Il ne craignit ni les
menaces ni les tortures pour racheter les chrétiens emprisonnés, qui risquaient
de perdre leur foi. Il s’agit d’un frère courageux de l’Ordre de la Merci,
saint Raymond, surnommé Nonnat (c’est-à-dire « non né »), qui reçut
ce surnom parce qu’il vit le jour par césarienne après la mort de sa mère. Il
naquit en 1204 à Portell, en Catalogne, dans une famille noble. Au début, son
père lui permit de se consacrer aux études, mais plus tard il le força brusquement
à travailler aux champs.
Dans cette solitude,
Raymond trouva l’occasion de se consacrer avec plus d’intensité à la prière et
à la méditation des vérités de la foi.
Après une longue
réflexion et une prière intense, il décida d’entrer dans l’Ordre de la
Bienheureuse Vierge de la Merci, fondé par saint Pierre Nolasque. Il se rendit
alors à Barcelone, où il fut accueilli et reçut l’habit religieux. Quelques
années plus tard, il fut jugé prêt à accomplir la mission importante du rachat
des esclaves.
Lors d’une mission à
Alger, après avoir dépensé tout l’argent disponible pour racheter les esclaves
chrétiens, il s’offrit lui-même comme otage afin d’en libérer d’autres qui
risquaient d’abandonner leur foi. Ce geste provoqua la colère des puissants,
qui le soumirent à des tortures. Cependant, le gouverneur de la ville,
craignant de perdre la rançon si Raymond mourait, interdit tout maltraitance
supplémentaire et menaça de sanctions ceux qui le tueraient.
Ayant obtenu une certaine
liberté de mouvement en ville, Raymond en profita pour assister les chrétiens
prisonniers et convertir quelques musulmans. Quand le gouverneur l’apprit, il
le condamna à mort, mais des marchands d’esclaves réussirent à faire commuer sa
peine en une longue et très dure flagellation.
Malgré les punitions,
Raymond poursuivit son œuvre d’évangélisation, jusqu’à ce que le gouverneur
ordonne qu’il soit fouetté, enchaîné et conduit dans les rues. Il resta en
prison pendant huit mois, jusqu’à ce que saint Pierre Nolasque paye sa rançon.
En signe de
reconnaissance pour son courage et ses œuvres, le Pape Grégoire IX le nomma
Cardinal. Cependant, une fois revenu à son couvent de Barcelone, Raymond
préféra continuer à vivre comme un simple religieux, conservant un style de vie
humble jusqu’à sa mort.
Convoqué à Rome, il
entreprit le voyage à pied, mais il mourut d’une attaque de fièvre à Cardona,
près de Barcelone, le 31 août 1240. Il fut canonisé en 1657 par le Pape
Alexandre VII. Il est le saint Patron des sages-femmes et des femmes enceintes.
Couples en espérance
d’enfant : ce saint méconnu que le Pape invite à prier
Mathilde de Robien - avec I.Media - publié
le 22/08/20 - mis à jour le 07/08/23
Si sainte Anne et sainte
Colette sont réputées pour venir en aide aux couples en espérance d’enfant, le
pape François recommande également d’invoquer ce religieux espagnol du XIIIe
siècle, saint Raymond Nonnat. Il est fêté le 31 août.
Quand, durant les
audiences [générales], un couple me demande la bénédiction pour que vienne un
enfant, je leur dis de prier saint Raymond Nonnat", a confié le pape
François dans une missive adressée à la paroisse de saint Ramón Nonato, à
l’occasion de sa fête patronale le 31 août. Un sanctuaire situé à Buenos Aires,
consacré aux couples en espérance d’enfant, que le pontife argentin connaît
bien. Il précise se remémorer « ces jours de fêtes, les bénédictions des mères,
des enfants » et des ménages priant pour accueillir la vie, du temps où il
habitait la capitale argentine.
Une naissance miraculeuse
Nonnat n’est pas le
véritable nom de famille de ce saint espagnol. Son patronyme provient du
latin non natus, c’est-à-dire "non-né", en raison des
circonstances particulières de sa naissance. En effet, il naquit après la mort
en couches de sa mère. Son père, craignant de perdre à la fois son épouse et
son enfant, demanda à un membre de sa famille d’ouvrir avec son poignard le
ventre de sa femme décédée. Ce qui permit la naissance de son fils. Né en
Catalogne en 1204 par césarienne, dirait-on aujourd'hui, saint Raymond est
ainsi considéré comme le patron des sages-femmes et invoqué lorsqu'un enfant
tarde à venir.
Ordonné prêtre à l'âge de
18 ans, Raymond entra dans l'Ordre de la Merci, dit aussi Ordre des
Mercédaires, qui venait en aide aux chrétiens prisonniers des musulmans en
Afrique du Nord et réduits en esclavage. La règle de l'Ordre voulait que les
moines mercédaires prennent librement et volontairement la place des esclaves
chrétiens et tiennent lieu d'otages, tant que l'argent de la rançon ne pouvait
être rassemblé. C'est ainsi que saint Raymond se livra lui-même aux musulmans
pour obtenir la libération de plusieurs captifs.
Il en profita pour
évangéliser ses compagnons d'infortune, et pour baptiser quelques musulmans qui
s'étaient convertis. Pour l’en empêcher, ses geôliers lui percèrent les lèvres
au fer rouge et y mirent un cadenas que l’on ouvrait que pour les repas. Saint
Pierre Nolasque, fondateur de l'Ordre Mercédaire, réussit enfin à réunir la
rançon exigée, et Raymond put rentrer en Espagne. Épuisé de tant de peines et
d'épreuves, il mourut en 1240, à 36 ans, avant d'avoir reçu le chapeau
cardinalice que le pape lui avait offert en récompense de ses mérites et de ses
services pour l’Église.
Lire aussi :Espérance
d’enfant : quatre versets bibliques à travers lesquels Dieu console
Lire aussi :Prière
à sainte Colette pour demander la grâce de la fertilité
Saint Raymond Nonnat
Biographie
Raymond, né à Portel, au
diocèse d'Urgel, en Catalogne, en 1204, fut surnommé « Nonnat » (non natus)
parce que sa mère mourut avant de lui donner le jour, ce qui lui vaut d'être le
patron des femmes enceintes et de l'enfant qu'elles portent. Sa mère était
morte d'une grave maladie dont elle se vit attaquée au septième mois de sa
grossesse ; les médecins assuraient que l'enfant était mort aussi, et que
c'était même sa mort qui avait provoqué celle de sa mère ; le père, néanmoins,
ne put jamais se résoudre à la voir conduire en terre sans avoir la
connaissance de ce qu'elle portait dans ses entrailles ; un de ses parents, qui
le vit dans cette perplexité, eut la hardiesse de tirer un poignard de son sein
pour en fendre le côté gauche de la défunte, et l'on vit paraître aussitôt un
bel enfant plein de vie, contre toute espérance humaine et au grand étonnement
de tous ceux qui étaient présents. Son père était de la noble famille des
Sarrois, depuis appelée Segers, alliée aux maisons de Foix et de Cardone.
Enfant pieux et studieux, fort dévôt à Vierge Marie, il était bouleversé par la
misère physique et morale.
Entré dans l'Ordre des
Mercédaires [1], récemment fondé par Pierre Nolasque [2] pour venir en aide aux
chrétiens tombés aux mains des musulmans, Raymond Nonnat fut chargé d'aller à
Alger pour racheter ceux que les barbaresques avaient réduits à l'esclavage.
Quand il n'eut plus d'argent, il se livra lui-même contre quelques captifs.
D'abord traité durement, il obtint ensuite la permission de circuler pour
encourager ses compagnons d'infortune et, comme il avait profité de cette
relative liberté pour enseigner quelques musulmans qui se convertirent et qu'il
baptisa, il aurait été condamné à être empalé si ceux qui lui servaient de
caution n'étaient intervenu ; il fut fouetté dans les rues, puis on lui perça
les lèvres avec un fer rouge pour y placer un cadenas dont le gouverneur avait
la clef.
Saint Pierre Nolasque
finit par rassembler la rançon de Raymond qui, bien qu'il eût voulu rester pour
soulager les esclaves chrétiens, obéit à l'ordre de rentrer en Espagne. Peu
après, le pape Grégoire IX qui l'appela auprès de lui, le créa cardinal, au
titre de Saint-Eustache, sans lui imposer de quitter l'habit de son Ordre.
Raymond Nonnat mourut près de Barcelone, avant que d'avoir rejoint le Souverain
Pontife. Dès que Raymond Nonnat fut entré dans la maison du comte de Cardone
qui était à deux journées de Barcelone, il fut saisi d'une fièvre
très-violente, accompagnée de convulsions et de tous les symptômes qui
pouvaient être les marques d'une mort prochaine. Il voulut s'y disposer par les
moyens ordinaires que l'Eglise présente à tous les fidèles. Mais les religieux
de la Merci dépendaient du curé du lieu qui était absent ; il fallut l'attendre
pour lui administrer les derniers Sacrements. Alors Raymond, qui craignait de
mourir sans être muni du saint Viatique, éleva les yeux au ciel et pria Dieu de
ne pas permettre qu'il fût privé de ce bien qu'il désirait avec tant d'ardeur,
quoiqu'il s'en reconnût indigne ; et aussitôt il entra, par la porte de la
salle où il était couché, en présence du comte, des religieux et de plusieurs
autres personnes qui l'assistaient, une belle procession d'hommes inconnus,
revêtus d'habits blancs, comme les religieux de la Merci, et tenant chacun un
flambeau allumé à la main. Notre-Seigneur les suivait ayant un saint ciboire
entre ses mains ; mais la lumière qu'il répandait était si grande, que tous
ceux de l'assemblée en furent éblouis : de sorte que personne ne put voir ce
qui se passa dans la suite d'une action si miraculeuse qui dura une bonne
demi-heure ; après quoi la procession s'en retourna dans le même ordre qu'elle
était venue, avec cette différence seulement, qu'en venant, les religieux
n'avaient paru que depuis la porte de la chambre jusqu'autour du lit, et, au
retour, ils prirent le chemin de la rivière qui arrose le pied du village, et
la passèrent à pied sec, marchant sur les eaux comme sur la terre ferme, et
disparurent ensuite. Le comte et tous les assistants, qui étaient sortis pour
voir la fin de cette merveille, trouvèrent à leur retour le saint cardinal, les
genoux en terre, les yeux baignés de larmes, le visage et les mains levés vers
le ciel, et comme sortant d'un profond ravissement ; on lui demanda ce qui
s'était passé ; mais il ne dit que ce mot de David : « Que le Dieu d'Israël est
bon à ceux qui ont le cour droit et innocent [3] ! » Enfin, il avoua qu'il
avait reçu le très-auguste Sacrement de nos autels. Ainsi, tous ses désirs
étant accomplis, peu de temps après il rendit son esprit à son Créaleur, en
prononçant ces paroles du Sauveur expirant sur la croix : « Mon Dieu, je remets
mon âme entre vos mains. »
Son visage, après sa
mort, devint beau et éclatant comme celui de Moïse, quand il descendit de la
montagne où il venait de parler avec Dieu ; et, bien que la chaleur de la
saison fùt extrême, et qu'elle fût encore augmentée par le grand concours du
peuple qui venait de tous côtés, pour honorer ses précieuses dépouilles, son
corps néanmoins ne donna jamais aucune marque de corruption ; il répandait au
contraire, par toute la salle, une odeur plus suave que le baume et que les
parfums les plus précieux, et il se fit même beaucoup de guérisons
surnaturelles, en faveur de ceux que la piété y avait amenés et qui avaient le
bonheur de le toucher. Cependant il fallut penser au lieu où l'on mettrait en
dépôt un si précieux trésor, et il s'éleva à ce sujet un nouveau ditférend
entre le comte de Cardonne qui le voulait retenir, et les religieux de la
Merci, qui le voulaient emmener dans leur couvent. Pour apaiser leur
contestation, on convint que le saint corps serait mis dans une châsse et
ensuite chargé sur une mule aveugle qui ne serait guidée que par son propre
instinct, et que le lieu où elle s'arrêterait serait choisi pour cette
sépulture. Cet accord fut fidèlement exécuté : car la mule, ayant marché
quelque temps, alla s'arrêter enfin proche de l'ermitage de Saint-Nicolas où le
serviteur de Dieu avait vu naître sa dévotion envers la sainte Vierge et où
cette bonne Mère lui avait fait goûter ses faveurs. Jamais il ne fut possible
de faire aller plus avant cette bête : elle fit trois fois le tour de
l'ermitage, et ensuite elle tomba morte à la porte de la chapelle.
[1] Ordre de la
Bienheureuse Vierge Marie de la Merci pour la Rédemption des captifs.
[2] Issu de la noble
famille des Nolasco, apparenté par sa mère aux comtes de Toulouse et aux rois
d'Aragon, Pierre Nolasque, né vers 1189 au mas des Saintes-Puelles, dans
l'ancien diocèse de Saint-Papoul, après avoir renoncé au mariage pour se
consacrer à Dieu, rejoint les armées de Simon de Montfort. A la bataille de
Muret où le roi Pierre d'Aragon est tué, son fils, Jacques, âgé de six ans, est
fait prisonnier ; Simon de Monfort le met sous la garde de Pierre Nolasque puis
les envoie tous deux en Espagne. Loin de la cour, Pierre Nolasque enseigne son
royal élève et lui montre l'exemple de sa piété et de sa charité.
[3] Psaume LXI 1.
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/08/31.php
Francisco Pacheco (1564–1644), La dernière communion eucharistique de Saint Raymond Nonnat,1611, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, UK, Bowes
Museum
St Raymond Nonnat,
confesseur
Mort en 1240. N’a jamais
été canonisé formellement. Son Office et la Messe furent approuvés pour l’Ordre
des Mercédaires en 1626 par Urbain VIII. Sa notice fut introduite dans le
Martyrologe par Alexandre VIII en 1657. Clément IX inscrivit sa fête comme
semidouble ad libitum en 1669. Innocent XI en fit un semidouble de précepte en
1676. Enfin le même éleva la fête au rang de double en 1681.
Leçons des Matines avant
1960.
Au deuxième nocturne.
Quatrième leçon. Raymond
a été surnommé Nonnat, en raison d’un fait contraire aux lois ordinaires de la
nature : sa mère étant morte avant de le mettre au monde, il fallut lui ouvrir
le sein pour amener l’enfant à la lumière. Issu d’une pieuse et illustre
famille, il vit le jour à Portel en Catalogne. Dès son enfance, il donna des
marques de sa future sainteté. Étranger aux divertissements de son âge,
insensible aux attraits du monde, il se donnait tellement à la piété, que tous
admiraient dans cet enfant une vertu déjà mûre. En avançant en âge, il
s’appliqua à l’étude des lettres ; mais bientôt, sur l’ordre de son père, il se
retira à la campagne, où il visitait souvent une petite chapelle dédiée à saint
Nicolas, aux environs de Portel, pour y vénérer une image de la sainte Vierge ;
image que les fidèles continuent d’entourer encore aujourd’hui d’une très
grande vénération. Là, se répandant en prières, il suppliait constamment la
Mère de Dieu de l’adopter pour sou fils, de daigner lui enseigner la voie du salut
et la science des Saints.
Cinquième leçon. La
Vierge très clémente ne repoussa point sa demande ; car elle fit comprendre à
Raymond, qu’il lui serait très agréable de le voir entrer dans l’ordre de la
Merci ou du rachat des captifs, récemment fondé d’après son inspiration.
Aussitôt cet avertissement reçu, il se rendit à Barcelone et embrassa cet
institut, voué à une œuvre si excellente de charité envers le prochain. Enrôlé
dans cette sainte milice, il garda toujours la virginité, qu’il avait déjà
consacrée à Marie. Il se signala également par la pratique des autres vertus et
surtout par sa charité envers les Chrétiens qui, tombés au pouvoir des païens,
traînaient une vie misérable dans la captivité. Envoyé en Afrique pour racheter
ces malheureux, il en délivra un grand nombre, et se constitua comme otage pour
ne pas voir ceux qui restaient, faute de rançon, courir le risque d’apostasier.
Mais comme, enflammé du zèle le plus ardent pour le salut des âmes, il réussit,
par ses prédications à convertir à Jésus Christ un certain nombre de Musulmans,
les barbares le jetèrent dans un étroit cachot, et le soumirent à différents
supplices : il endura notamment le cruel martyre d’avoir les lèvres percées et
tenues fermées par un cadenas de fer.
Sixième leçon. Ces
choses, et d’autres actions pleines de courage, lui firent de tous côtés la
réputation d’un saint et portèrent Grégoire IX à lui donner une place dans le
sacré Collège des Cardinaux de la sainte Église romaine ; mais l’homme de Dieu,
conservant dans cette dignité l’horreur qu’il avait de la pompe et du luxe, ne
cessa de pratiquer strictement l’humilité religieuse. Il se mit en route pour
aller à Rome, mais à peine arrivé à Cordoue il tomba dangereusement malade, et
demanda instamment à être muni des sacrements de l’Église. La maladie
s’aggravant et le Prêtre tardant à venir, Raymond reçut le saint viatique par
le ministère des Anges, qui lui apparurent sous l’aspect de religieux de son
Ordre. L’ayant reçu, il rendit grâces à Dieu, et s’en alla au Seigneur le
dernier dimanche d’août, l’an douze cent quarante. Une discussion s’étant
élevée au sujet du lieu de sa sépulture, son corps, enfermé dans un cercueil,
fut placé sur une mule aveugle, qui le transporta, non sans une permission de
Dieu à la chapelle de saint Nicolas, pour qu’il fût enseveli au lieu même où
Raymond avait jeté les premiers fondements de sa très sainte vie. Un couvent de
son Ordre, fut bâti en cet endroit et les fidèles y affluent de toutes les
parties de la Catalogne, pour s’acquitter de leurs vœux en venant honorer le
Saint, dont la gloire y est manifestée par différentes sortes de miracles et de
choses merveilleuses.
Au troisième nocturne. Du
Commun.
Lecture du saint Évangile
selon saint Luc. Cap. 12, 35-40.
En ce temps-là : Jésus
dit à ses disciples : Que vos reins soient ceints, et les lampes allumées dans
vos mains. Et le reste.
Homélie de saint Grégoire,
Pape. Homilia 13 in Evang.
Septième leçon. Mes très
chers frères, le sens de la lecture du saint Évangile que vous venez d’entendre
est très clair. Mais de crainte qu’elle ne paraisse, à cause de sa simplicité
même, trop élevée à quelques-uns, nous la parcourrons brièvement, afin d’en
exposer la signification à ceux qui l’ignorent, sans cependant être à charge à
ceux qui la connaissent. Le Seigneur dit : « Que vos reins soient ceints ».
Nous ceignons nos reins lorsque nous réprimons les penchants de la chair par la
continence. Mais parce que c’est peu de chose de s’abstenir du mal, si l’on ne
s’applique également, et par des efforts assidus, à faire du bien, notre
Seigneur ajoute aussitôt : « Ayez en vos mains des lampes allumées ». Nous
tenons en nos mains des lampes allumées, lorsque nous donnons à notre prochain,
par nos bonnes œuvres, des exemples qui l’éclairent. Le Maître désigne
assurément ces œuvres-là, quand il dit : « Que votre lumière luise devant les
hommes, afin qu’ils voient vos bonnes œuvres, et qu’ils glorifient votre Père
qui est dans les cieux ».
Huitième leçon. Voilà
donc les deux choses commandées : ceindre ses reins, et tenir des lampes ; ce
qui signifie que la chasteté doit parer notre corps, et la lumière de la vérité
briller dans nos œuvres. L’une de ces vertus n’est nullement capable de plaire
à notre Rédempteur si l’autre ne l’accompagne. Celui qui fait des bonnes
actions ne peut lui être agréable s’il n’a renoncé à se souiller par la luxure,
ni celui qui garde une chasteté parfaite, s’il ne s’exerce à la pratique des
bonnes œuvres. La chasteté n’est donc point une grande vertu sans les bonnes
œuvres, et les bonnes œuvres ne sont rien sans la chasteté. Mais si quelqu’un
observe les deux préceptes, il lui reste le devoir de tendre par l’espérance à
la patrie céleste, et de prendre garde qu’en s’éloignant des vices, il ne le
fasse pour l’honneur de ce monde.
Neuvième leçon. « Et
vous, soyez semblables à des hommes qui attendent que leur maître revienne des
noces, afin que lorsqu’il viendra et frappera à la porte, ils lui ouvrent
aussitôt ». Le Seigneur vient en effet quand il se prépare à nous juger ; et il
frappe à la porte, lorsque, par les peines de la maladie, il nous annonce une
mort prochaine. Nous lui ouvrons aussitôt, si nous l’accueillons avec amour. Il
ne veut pas ouvrir à son juge lorsqu’il frappe, celui qui tremble de quitter
son corps, et redoute de voir ce juge qu’il se souvient avoir méprisé ; mais
celui qui se sent rassuré, et par son espérance et par ses œuvres, ouvre
aussitôt au Seigneur lorsqu’il frappe à la porte, car il reçoit son Juge avec
joie. Et quand le moment de la mort arrive, sa joie redouble à la pensée d’une
glorieuse récompense.
Dom Guéranger, l’Année
Liturgique
Août finit comme il a
commencé, par une fête de délivrance : sceau divin de l’éternelle Sagesse sur
ce mois qui lui est consacré. Depuis qu’au sortir d’Éden, elle fit son but de
la rédemption du genre humain que poursuivait son amour, tous ses privilégiés
ont eu leur part en ce grand œuvre : part de labeur, de prières, de
souffrances, comme fut la sienne en la chair ; part féconde en la mesure même
de l’association qu’elle daigne leur octroyer à ses renoncements
miséricordieux. Pierre dans ses liens avança plus l’émancipation du monde que
les conspirateurs soulevés contre la tyrannie des Césars ; Raymond Nonnat et
ses frères, prenant sur eux les chaînes des captifs, firent plus que tous les
philosophes égalitaires ou les déclamateurs de liberté pour l’abolition de
l’esclavage et l’extinction de la barbarie.
Déjà les fêtes des saints
Raymond de Pegnafort et Pierre Nolasque nous ont donné d’assister aux origines
de l’Ordre illustre où Raymond Nonnat brille d’un éclat si grand. Bientôt sa
fondatrice auguste elle-même, Notre-Dame de la Merci, daignera se prêter à
l’expression de la reconnaissance du monde pour tant de bienfaits.
Jusqu’où, illustre Saint,
n’avez-vous pas suivi le conseil du Sage [1] ! Les liens de la Sagesse sont des
liens de salut, disait-il [2]. Et, non content de livrer vos pieds à ses fers
et votre cou à ses entraves [3], vos lèvres sont allées, dans l’allégresse de
l’amour, au-devant du cadenas redoutable dont ne parlait pas le fils de Sirach.
Mais quelle récompense n’est pas la vôtre, aujourd’hui que cette Sagesse du
Père, si totalement embrassée par vous [4] dans la plénitude de la divine
charité en son double précepte, vous abreuve au torrent des éternelles délices
[5], ornant votre front de cette gloire, de ces grâces [6] qui sont le
rayonnement de sa propre beauté ! Afin que nous puissions vous rejoindre un
jour près de son trône de lumière, montrez-nous à marcher en ce monde par ses
voies toujours belles, par ses sentiers où la paix n’est jamais troublée [7],
fût-ce au fond des cachots [8]. Délivrez nos âmes, si le péché les captive
encore ; rompez leurs attaches égoïstes, et remplacez-les par ces liens heureux
de la Sagesse qui sont l’humilité, le renoncement, l’oubli de soi, l’amour de
nos frères pour Dieu, de Dieu pour lui-même.
[1] Eccli. VI, 24.
[2] Ibid. 31.
[3] Ibid. 25.
[4] Prov. V, 8.
[5] Psalm. XXXV, 9.
[6] Prov. V, 9.
[7] Ibid. III, 17.
[8] Sap. X, 9-21.
_c.1820-35_Philadelphia_MofA.jpg)
Jose
Aragon, Saint Raymond Nonnatus (New Mexico), circa 1820, Museum of
Arts, Philadelphia
Bhx cardinal
Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
La fête de ce fils
héroïque de l’Ordre de Notre-Dame de la Merci, à qui, en raison des longs et
cruels tourments soufferts par lui, en Afrique, pour la défense de la sainte
Foi, revient le titre de confesseur au sens primitif que lui attribuaient nos
pères, fut introduite dans le Bréviaire par ordre de Clément IX et d’Innocent
XI.
La messe est du Commun,
sauf la première collecte qui est propre.
Prière. — « Seigneur qui,
pour racheter vos fidèles de la servitude des Mahométans, avez rendu admirable
le zèle du bienheureux Raymond ; faites que, par ses prières, affranchis des
liens de nos péchés, nous nous appliquions en toute liberté d’esprit à
accomplir ce qui plaît à votre sainte volonté ».
La liberté ! Voilà le
grand don que Dieu a accordé à l’humanité et que le Christ lui a ensuite
restitué. C’est pourquoi saint Colomban disait à un tyran couronné : si aufers
libertatem, aufers dignitatem. Nous devons garder jalousement cette prérogative
de notre dignité de fils de Dieu, sans jamais nous assujettir à la servitude
dégradante des passions. La liberté est ordre et harmonie ; et pour jouir des
fruits de cette vraie liberté, il faut se dominer soi-même et mettre
spontanément sur ses épaules le joug suave de la loi du Christ.
Dom Pius Parsch, Le guide
dans l’année liturgique
Hors de l’esclavage du
démon.
1. Saint Raymond. — Jour
de mort : 31 août 1240. Tombeau : Une discussion s’étant élevée au sujet du
lieu de sa sépulture, on chargea son corps, enfermé dans un cercueil, sur une
mule aveugle qui le transporta à la chapelle de Saint-Nicolas, aux environs de
Portel (Espagne), où il fut enterré. Vie : Saint Raymond reçut le surnom de
Nonnat, c’est-à-dire « qui n’est pas né », parce que, sa mère étant morte avant
sa naissance, on le tira de son corps par l’opération césarienne. Il entra dans
l’ordre de Notre-Dame de la Merci, spécialement institué pour le rachat des
captifs chrétiens. Il fut envoyé en Afrique où, ses ressources épuisées, il se
donna lui-même en otage. Ayant converti par sa prédication un certain nombre de
Musulmans, il fut jeté par les barbares dans un étroit cachot. Les lèvres
percées et cadenassées, il endura longtemps ce supplice avec beaucoup de
patience. Le pape Grégoire IX, informé de ces faits, le nomma cardinal, alors
qu’il portait encore ses vêtements d’esclave. La mort le frappa subitement à
l’âge de 36 ans. Le prêtre qui devait lui administrer les derniers sacrements
tardant à venir, il reçut le saint viatique de la main des anges qui lui
apparurent sous le costume de religieux de son ordre. Saint Raymond Nonnat
appartient à la liste glorieuse des héros qui sacrifient leur vie pour le salut
de leurs frères.
2. La messe. — C’est la messe Os iusti du commun des Confesseurs. Nous avons reconnu hier sainte Rose de Lima, et nous avec elle, sous les traits de la jeune vierge qui attend, dans la nuit, une lampe ardente à la main, l’arrivée de l’Époux qui l’introduit dans la salle du festin. Aujourd’hui, nous nous trouvons en présence d’un spectacle analogue : le serviteur vigilant se tient prêt, dans la nuit, une lampe allumée à la main, pour le retour du maître qui, pour le récompenser, le fait asseoir à sa table et s’approche pour le servir. Nous constatons trois points de ressemblance entre ces deux paraboles ; la lampe allumée, l’attente, et la récompense, Admirons comment l’une et l’autre symbolisent à merveille la vie chrétienne. La lampe allumée est la vita æterna que nous avons reçue au baptême, la fides et devotio (la foi et le don de soi) ; l’attente est celle de la parousie ; et la récompense, enfin, le bonheur : éternel qu’on dépeint si volontiers en effet comme un festin de mariage, — Mais notre parabole aujourd’hui représente en même temps la messe. Au Saint-Sacrifice, en effet, il est absolument vrai que le Seigneur vient à nous, le serviteur vigilant, qu’il nous invite à sa table et nous « sert en passant » (transiens ministrabit) sa chair et son sang. On voit, par suite, que la messe est un symbole et une anticipation du festin céleste ; ici-bas, nous possédons Dieu « en passant » là-haut, ce sera pour l’éternité.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/31-08-St-Raymond-Nonnat-confesseur
Diego González
de la Vega (1628–1697), San Ramón Nonato coronado por Jesucristo,
1673, 136 x 199, Museo del Prado, Madrid
Saint Raymond Nonnat :
Modèle de Charité et Dévouement
De l'Ordre de Notre-Dame
de la Merci de la Rédemption des Captifs, + 1240.
Date : 1240
Fête : 31 août
Pape : Grégoire IX
Saint Raymond Nonnat, né
en Catalogne en 1304, est un exemple exceptionnel de dévouement et de charité
chrétienne. Issu d’une famille noble mais modeste, il se distingua par son
inclination pour la vie religieuse dès son plus jeune âge. Cet article explore
la vie, les œuvres et l’héritage de saint Raymond Nonnat, un saint dont la
compassion et le sacrifice ont laissé une marque indélébile dans l’histoire de
l’Église.
Jeunesse et Vocation
Raymond Nonnat naquit
dans une famille noble de Catalogne. Dès son enfance, il manifesta une
inclination marquée pour la vie religieuse et le service ecclésiastique. Son
père, remarquant cette inclination, l’envoya à la campagne pour gérer une
ferme, espérant détourner son esprit des voies religieuses. Raymond obéit
sans murmurer, et dans l’amour de la solitude, il prit soin du troupeau
lui-même, consacrant ce temps à la prière et à la contemplation.
Entrée chez les
Mercédaires
Pour échapper aux
pressions de ses amis et de sa famille, Raymond prit la décision
radicale de renoncer au monde et de se consacrer entièrement à Dieu. Il entra
chez les religieux de Notre-Dame de la Merci, un ordre fondé pour la rédemption
des captifs chrétiens. Ce choix fut particulièrement motivé par sa profonde
charité et son désir de servir les autres.
Mission en Barbarie
Raymond fut
rapidement envoyé en Barbarie pour négocier la libération des esclaves
chrétiens détenus par les Algériens. Sa mission fut couronnée de succès, et il
obtint la liberté d’un grand nombre d’esclaves. Cependant, lorsque les fonds
vinrent à manquer, Raymond fit un acte de charité ultime : il se
donna lui-même en otage pour garantir la libération de ceux dont la situation
était la plus désespérée.
Captivité et Souffrance
Durant sa
captivité, Raymond ne se contenta pas de souffrir en silence. Il
apporta un immense réconfort aux chrétiens prisonniers et réussit à convertir
plusieurs infidèles à la foi chrétienne. Ses actions courageuses et son
influence spirituelle lui valurent d’être traité avec une grande cruauté par
ses geôliers. Malgré les horribles souffrances qu’il endura, il resta ferme
dans sa foi et son dévouement.
Rachat et Décès
Après avoir passé huit
mois dans un cachot, Raymond fut finalement racheté par ses frères
religieux. Cependant, affaibli par les sévices endurés et la dureté de la
captivité, il mourut en 1240 pendant son retour en Espagne. Son décès prématuré
fut une grande perte pour l’ordre des Mercédaires et pour tous ceux qu’il avait
aidés et inspirés par son exemple.
Héritage et Canonisation
Saint Raymond Nonnat est
vénéré comme un modèle de charité chrétienne et de sacrifice personnel. Son
dévouement à la cause des captifs et son courage dans la souffrance ont fait de
lui un saint particulièrement aimé et respecté. Il est invoqué comme le patron
des enfants à naître, des accouchements difficiles, et des personnes faussement
accusées.
Conclusion
La vie de saint
Raymond Nonnat est une véritable inspiration pour les chrétiens
d’aujourd’hui. Sa charité, son dévouement et son sacrifice exemplaires
rappellent l’importance de vivre une vie de service et de compassion. Son
héritage continue d’inspirer ceux qui cherchent à suivre le chemin du Christ
avec un cœur généreux et une foi inébranlable.
La charité, celle qui
fait qu’on se dépense soi-même tout entier au secours du prochain, tel est
le caractère des vrais chrétiens. 1° Hélas ! aujourd’hui, on ne
cherche qu’à satisfaire son avarice, son luxe ou sa vanité ; on laisse périr
les pauvres de misère, plutôt que de leur donner du superflu. On ne sait ce que
c’est que les visiter, et l’insensibilité empêche de compatir à leurs maux
spirituels. 2° Combien peu prient pour les pécheurs, et profitent des
occasions qui se présentent de les ramener à la vertu, ou par eux-mêmes, ou par
les autres ! N’avons-nous pas lieu de conclure de nos dispositions, que nous
n’aimons ni Dieu ni le prochain ?
Iconographie
On le représente : 1° avec un cadenas
aux lèvres ; 2° quelquefois avec trois couronnes
ou même quatre, et l’on y joint
aussi la palme ; 3° avec une couronne d’épines
sur la tête : cette représentation n’est pas
fréquente, mais elle se rapporte à un trait de la vie du Saint ; 4° avec un ostensoir
à la main, pour indiquer
que, comme il se mourait, et que l’on ne trouvait
pas le prêtre qui devait lui apporter le saint
viatique, des anges vinrent le lui présenter.
Oraison
O Dieu, qui avez rendu le
bienheureux Raymond Nonnat, votre confesseur, admirable dans le soin qu’il
a pris de délivrer vos fidèles de la captivité des impies ; accordez-nous, par
son intercession, qu’étant délivrés des liens du péché, nous fassions avec un
esprit vraiment libre ce qui vous est agréable. Par J.-C. N.-S. Ainsi soit-il.
SOURCE : https://www.laviedessaints.com/saint-raymond-monnat/
_6.jpg)
Mosaics
of the life of Saint Ramon Nonat
Mosaic il·lustrant el bateig de Ramon Nonat, situat damunt la porta de l'església de Sant Ramon Nonat (Barcelona)
St Raymond Nonnat (+1240)
Fils d’un seigneur de la
Catalogne (France), il voit le jour dans des circonstances tragiques puisque sa
mère décède alors qu’elle est enceinte de sept mois et que l’enfant qu’on en
extirpe est bien vivant (de là vient son surnom : "non né",
"Nonnat"). Convaincu qu’il s’agit d’un signe du Ciel, son père le
fait aussitôt baptiser puis instruire avant de l’associer à ses affaires. Pour
ne pas déplaire à son père, Raymond se soumet, en dépit de son désir d’entrer
en religion. Il profite de sa situation pour se mêler aux bergers et aux
ouvriers, avec qui il passe son temps en prière. Puis, ayant enfin obtenu le
consentement de son père, il entre comme novice chez les Mercédaires de
Barcelone. Dès lors, il se consacre au rachat des prisonniers captifs des
barbares en Afrique du Nord et lorsque les moyens lui manquent, il s’offre
lui-même en otage à leur place. Quelques années plus tard, il est nommé
cardinal par le Pape Grégoire IX. Convoqué à Rome par ce dernier, il ne réussit
malheureusement pas à s’y rendre puisqu’il décède d’une forte fièvre en cours
de route. St Raymond Nonnat est le patron des gynécologues-obstétriciens et le
protecteur des femmes enceintes et des nouveaux-nés. Il est invoqué pour guérir
la fièvre.
SOURCE : http://www.peintre-icones.fr/PAGES/CALENDRIER/Aout/31.html
Juan
de Mesa, St. Raymond Nonnatus, 1626 (Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla),
Museum of Fine Arts of Seville
Juan de
Mesa, Statue de saint Raymond Nonnat, musée des Beaux-Arts de Séville
Also
known as
Raymund Nonnatus
Raimundo Nonato
Profile
Born to the Spanish nobility.
Well educated,
his father planned
a career for Raymond in the royal court in Aragon (part
of modern Spain).
When Raymond felt drawn to religious
life, his father ordered
him to manage one of the family farms.
However, Raymond spent his time with the shepherds and workers, studying and praying until
his father gave
up the idea of making his son a wordly success.
Mercedarian priest,
receiving the habit from Saint Peter
Nolasco, the order’s founder. Master-general of Mercedarian
Order. Spent his entire estate ransoming Christians from
Muslim captors, then surrendered himself as a hostage to free another.
Sentenced to death by
impalement, he was spared because of his large ransom value. Imprisoned and tortured,
he still managed to convert some
of his guards. To keep him from preaching the faith,
his captors bored a hole through his lips with a hot iron, and attached padlock.
Raymund was eventually ransomed, returning to Barcelona, Spain in 1239.
Created cardinal by Pope Gregory
IX, Raymond continued to live as a mendicant monk.
He died while
en route to Rome to
answer a papal summons.
Born
1204 at
Portella, diocese of
Urgel, Catalonia, Spain
delivered by caesarean
operation (c-section) when his mother died in childbirth;
hence the name non natus = not born
31 August 1240 at
Cardona, Spain of
a fever
buried at
the chapel of Saint Nicholas
near his family farm he
was supposed to have managed
5 November 1625 by Pope Urban
VIII (cultus
confirmed)
1657 by Pope Alexander
VII (canonized)
Mercedarian surrounded
by Moors and prisoners
Mercedarian surrounded
by ransomed slaves
Mercedarian with
a cardinal‘s
red hat
Mercedarian with
a padlock on his lips
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Catholic
Encyclopedia: Mercedarians
Catholic
Encyclopedia: Raymond Nonnatus
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
Saint
Raymond Nonnatus, Cardinal and Confessor
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Oxford Dictionary of Saints, by David Hugh Farmer
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian
Catholic Truth Society
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites
en français
Abbé
Christian-Philippe Chanut
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Raymond
Nonnatus“. CatholicSaints.Info. 16 November 2023. Web. 12 November 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-raymond-nonnatus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-raymond-nonnatus/
,%20c.%201800_Guatemala%20City,%20Church%20of%20Santa%20Rosa.jpg)
Book of Saints –
Raymund Nonnatus
Article
(Saint)
(August
31) (13th
century) A Spanish Saint,
Religious of the then newly-founded Order of Our Lady of Ransom. He spent his
all in the Moorish countries of North Africa in the purchase back of Christian slaves,
and, in the end, gave himself as a hostage to secure the liberty of one of
their number. He thenceforth lived in slavery and endured terrible hardships
until his Order succeeded in ransoming him in his turn. Returning to Europe, he
was received with the utmost veneration and was even raised to the Cardinalate
by Pope Gregory
IX. Nevertheless, he persisted in living as a humble Religious until his holy
death (A.D. 1240).
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Raymund Nonnatus”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
22 August 2016. Web. 12 November 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-raymund-nonnatus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-raymund-nonnatus/
New
Catholic Dictionary – Saint Raymond Nonnatus
Article
Cardinal and confessor of
the faith. Born in 1204 in Portello, diocese of Urgel, Spain; died 31
August 1240 at
Cardona, Catalonia. Having been taken from the womb of his mother after her
death, he received the name Nonnatus (not born). He became a member
of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom in Barcelona and, promoted for his
piety and diligence, was sent as ransomer to free the captives at al-Djaza’ir
(modern Algiers). There he endured the greatest hardship and persecution
because of his persistence in converting the Mohammedans. Ransomed by his
Order, he returned to Spain and was made a cardinal by Pope Gregory IX. In
spite of his rank he lived as a simple religious. He died of fever on the way
to Rome. Patron of midwives and those falsely accused. Relics in the chapel of
Saint Nicholas, Portello. Feast, Roman Calendar, 31
August.
MLA
Citation
“Saint Raymond
Nonnatus”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info.
6 August 2018. Web. 12 November 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-raymond-nonnatus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-raymond-nonnatus/
,%20c.%201800_Washington,%20Smithsonian%20American%20Art%20Museum.jpg)
Feastday: August 31
Raymond was born at
Portella, Catalonia, Spain. He was delivered by caesarean operation when his
mother died in childbirth. Hence his name non natus (not born). He joined
the Mercedarians under St. Peter Nolasco
at Barcelona. He succeeded Peter as chief ransomer and went to Algeria to
ransom slaves. He remained as hostage for several slaves when
his money ran out and was sentenced to be impaled when the governor learned
that he had converted several Mohammedans. He escaped the death sentence because
of the ransom he would bring, but was forced to run the gauntlet. He was then
tortured for continuing his evangelizing activities but was ransomed eight
months later by Peter Nolasco. On his return to Barcelona in
1239, he was appointed Cardinal by
Pope Gregory IX, but died at Cardona a short distance from Barcelona the
next year while on the way to Rome. He was canonized in 1657. He is the patron
saint of expectant mothers and midwives because
of the nature of
his own birth. Although his mother died in labor, Raymond miraculously survived
the ordeal. His feast day is
August 31.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=314
San
Ramón Nonato. Retablo de S. Buenaventura, Iglesia de San Francisco, Santa
Cruz de Tenerife
St. Raymond Nonnatus
St. Raymond was born at
Portella, Catalonia, Spain. He was delivered by caesarean operation when his
mother died in childbirth. Hence his name non natus (not born). He joined the
Mercedarians under St. Peter Nolasco at Barcelona. He succeeded Peter as chief
ransomer and went to Algeria to ransom slaves.
He remained as hostage
for several slaves when his money ran out and was sentenced to be impaled when
the governor learned that he had converted several Mohammedans. He escaped the
death sentence because of the ransom he would bring, but was forced to run the
gauntlet. He was then tortured for continuing his evangelizing activities but
was ransomed eight months later by Peter Nolasco. On his return to Barcelona in
1239, he was appointed Cardinal by Pope Gregory IX, but died at Cardona a short
distance from Barcelona the next year while on the way to Rome.
He was canonized in 1657.
He is the patron saint of expectant mothers and midwives because of the nature
of his own birth. Although his mother died in labor, Raymond miraculously
survived the ordeal. His feast day is August 31.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-raymond-nonnatus/
St. Raymond Nonnatus
(In Spanish SAN
RAMON).
Born 1200 or 1204 at Portello in the Diocese
of Urgel in Catalonia; died at Cardona, 31 August, 1240.
His feast is
celebrated on 31 August. He is pictured in the habit of his order
surrounded by ransomed slaves, with a padlock on his lips. He
was taken from the womb of his mother after her death, hence his name. Of noble
but poor family,
he showed early traits of piety and
great talent. His father ordered him to tend a farm, but later gave him
permission to take the habit with the Mercedarians at Barcelona,
at the hands of the founder, St.
Peter Nolasco. Raymond made such progress in the religious
life that he was soon considered worthy to succeed his master in the
office of ransomer. He was sent to Algiers and liberated
many captives. When money failed he gave himself as a hostage. He
was zealous in
teaching the Christian
religion and made many converts, which embittered the Mohammedan authorities. Raymond was
subjected to all kinds of indignities and cruelty, was made to run the
gauntlet, and was at last sentenced to impalement.
The hope of a greater sum of money as ransom caused the
governor to commute the sentence into imprisonment.
To prevent him from preaching for Christ,
his lips were pierced with a red-hot iron and closed with a padlock. After
his arrival in Spain,
in 1239, he was made a cardinal by Gregory
IX. In the next year he was called to Rome by
the pope,
but came only as far as Cardona, about six miles from Barcelona,
where he died. His body was brought to the chapel of
St. Nicholas near his old farm. In 1657 his name was placed in
the Roman martyrology by Alexander
VII. He is invoked by women in
labour and by persons falsely accused.
The appendix to the Roman
ritual gives a formula for the blessing of water, in
his honour,
to be used by the sick, and another of candles.
Sources
BUTLER, Lives of the
Saints ; STADLER, Heiligenlexicon ; GAMS, Kirchengesch. von
Spanien, III; Acta SS., VI, 729.
Mershman, F. (1911). St. Raymond Nonnatus. In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved August 31,
2015 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12671b.htm
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12671b.htm
Raymond Nonnatus, O.Merc.
Cardinal (RM)
Born at Portella, Catalonia, Spain, in 1204; died at Cardona, near Barcelona,
Spain, in 1240; canonized in 1657.
What we know of Raymond's
life comes from late and somewhat deficient sources. His surname is not that of
his family but because his mother died giving him birth and he had to be
removed from the womb by Caesarian section (nonnatus = "not born").
He was not expected to live, but he did. His father, a wealthy, authoritarian
man, was ambitious for his son to play a part in the court of the king of
Aragon and ensured he had a good education. Raymond, however, preferred to
study religious books rather than secular subjects. Alone in his room, he grew
in piety. His father, alarmed at his growing vocation, sent Raymond to one of
his farms and appointed him its manager. Soon the young saint settled down
where he went off to live with shepherds. He enjoyed the life, ignored its
hardships, and lost himself in solitude and prayer. But his lifestyle aroused
the envy and suspicion of others, and so, once again, Raymond was forcibly
moved.
When he was able, he
entered the Order of Our Lady of Mercy or the Mercaderians, which had been
founded by Peter Nolasco at Barcelona. The order was dedicated to the ransoming
of Christian captives who had been taken by the Islamics and were being held in
prison in Algeria. Raymond quickly settled in, followed the exercises of faith
that taught him patience, detachment, charity, the poverty of the poor, and the
humility of the truly humble. When the founder retired, Raymond took his place
as chief almoner and set off for Algiers with the gold that had been
contributed by Christians.
This was a labor of love
for the saint to deliver so many prisoners from their chains and dungeons and
despair, especially when he realized that the faith of the prisoners was in
even greater danger than their bodies. When he had spent all the money, he
unhesitatingly offered himself in exchange. He was imprisoned, but gave thanks
to our Lady for it.
In prison he converted
some of his guards to Christianity, which enraged the Moors. He was denounced,
beaten in public. The governor would have killed him by impalement had not
others realized that a rich ransom would be paid for this particular Christian.
Instead his lips were pierced and closed with a chain so that he could no
longer comfort his friends or convert his jailers. After eight months of
torture, Peter Nolasco arrived and paid his ransom. When he left for Barcelona,
he was saddened at having left so many others behind, but Saint Peter forbade
him to remain.
When Pope Gregory IX made
him a cardinal of Saint Eustacius, Raymond did nothing to change his lifestyle.
He wore the same clothes, ate the same food, lived in the same monastery in a
cell as before this honor. He received few visitors and ignored the count of
Cardona and other important personages who disapproved of his simplicity and
tried to persuade him to adopt one more suited to his dignity as a cardinal.
In 1240, Pope Gregory
summoned Raymond to Rome, perhaps to see this man whose reputation for holiness
was so great. When Raymond left the monastery, people ran to see him and do him
honor. But at Cardona, he was struck with fever and died the same day at the
age of 36 (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
In art, Saint Raymond is
a Mercedarian (white robe with badge on the breast) with a chain and padlock on
his lips in remembrance of his captivity. He may also be shown surrounded by
Moors and captives or dressed as a cardinal and presiding at chapter (Roeder).
He is highly venerated in Spain as the patron of children, domestic animals,
innocent captives, the falsely accused, nurses (Roeder), and midwives
(Delaney). He is invoked during childbirth and fever (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0831.shtml
St. Raymund Nonnatus,
Confessor
From the Chronicles of
his Order, and other Memoirs collected by Pinius the Bollandist, Augusti, t. 6,
p. 729. See also Helyot, who chiefly copies Baillet.
A.D. 1240.
ACCORDING to the rule laid down by our divine Redeemer, 1 that
Christian approves himself his most faithful disciple, and gives the surest and
greatest proof of his love of God, who most perfectly loves his neighbour for
God’s sake. By this test of true sanctity we are to form our judgment of the
glorious saint whom the church honours on this day. Saint Raymund Nonnatus 2 was
born at Portel in the diocess of Urgel, in Catalonia, in the year 1204, and was
descended of a gentleman’s family of a small fortune. In his childhood he
seemed to find no other pleasure than in his devotions and serious duties. Such
was his application to his grammar studies, and so happy his genius, as to
spare his preceptor much pains in his education. His father, resolving to cross
his inclination to a religious or ecclesiastical state, which he began to
perceive in him, took him from school, and sent him to take care of a farm
which he had in the country. Raymund readily obeyed, and in order to enjoy the
opportunity of holy solitude, by voluntary choice, kept the sheep himself, and
in the mountains and forests spent his time in holy meditation and prayer,
imitating the austerities of the ancient anchorets. Some time after he was
pressed by his friends to go to the court of Arragon, where, by his prudence
and abilities, he could not fail to make a fortune, being related to the
illustrious houses of Foix and Cardona. These importunities obliged him to
hasten the execution of his resolution of taking the religious habit in the new
order of our Lady of Mercy for the redemption of captives. Our saint could say
with holy Job, that compassion for the poor or distressed had grown up with him
from his childhood. The sufferings of the Christians, who, in neighbouring
provinces, almost under his eyes, groaned in the most inhuman slavery, under
the Moors, particularly afflicted his tender heart; by compassion he bore all
their burdens, and felt the weight of all their chains. But if he was moved at
their corporal sufferings, and earnestly desired to devote himself, and all
that he possessed, to procure them comfort and relief under their temporal
afflictions, he was much more afflicted by their spiritual dangers of sinking
under their calamities, and losing their immortal souls by impatience or
apostacy from Christ. For this he never ceased to weep and pray, entreating the
God of mercy to be himself the comfort and support of the weak and of the
strong; and he wished with St. Paul, 3 to
spend and be spent himself for their souls. In these dispositions he
obtained of his unwilling father, through the mediation of the Count of
Cardona, leave to embrace the above-mentioned order; and was accordingly
admitted to his profession at Barcelona by the holy founder St. Peter Nolasco.
The extraordinary fervour of the saint in this new state, his perfect
disengagement from the world, his profound humility, sincere obedience,
wonderful spirit of mortification and penance, seraphic devotion, and constant
recollection, rendered him the model and the admiration of his brethren. So
surprising was the progress that he made in the perfection of his holy
institute, that, within two or three years after his profession, he was judged
the best qualified to discharge the office of ransomer, in which he succeeded
St. Peter. Being sent into Barbary with a considerable sum of money, he
purchased, at Algiers, the liberty of a great number of slaves. When all this
treasure was laid out in that charitable way, he voluntarily gave himself up as
a hostage for the ransom of certain others, whose situation was hardest, and
whose faith seemed exposed to imminent danger. The magnanimous sacrifice which
the saint had made of his own liberty served only to exasperate the Mahometans,
who treated him with uncommon barbarity, till the infidels, fearing lest if he
died in their hands they should lose the ransom which was stipulated to be paid
for the slaves for whom he remained a hostage, upon a remonstrance made on that
account by the cadi or magistrate of the city, gave orders that he should be
treated with more humanity. Hereupon he was permitted to go abroad about the
streets; which liberty he made use of to comfort and encourage the Christians
in their chains, and he converted and baptized some Mahometans. Upon
information hereof, the governor condemned him to be impaled, that is, to be
put to death by thrusting a stake into the body through the hinder parts; this
being a barbarous manner of executing criminals much in use among those
infidels. However, the persons who were interested in the ransom of the
captives, lest they should be losers, prevailed that his life should be spared;
and, by a commutation of his punishment, he underwent a cruel bastinado. This
torment did not daunt his courage. So long as he saw souls in danger of
perishing eternally, he thought he had yet done nothing; nor could he let slip
any opportunity of endeavouring to prevent their so frightful misfortune. He
considered that, as St. Chrysostom says: 4 “Though
a person shall have bestowed an immense treasure in alms, he has done nothing
equal to him who has contributed to the salvation of a soul. This is a greater
alms than ten thousand talents; than this whole world, how great soever it
appears to the eye; for a man is more precious than the whole world.”
St. Raymund had on one side no more money to employ in releasing poor captives;
and, on the other, to speak to a Mahometan upon the subject of religion was
capital by the standing laws of the Mussulmans. He could, however, still exert
his endeavours, with hopes of some success, or of dying a martyr of charity. He
therefore resumed his former method of instructing and exhorting both the
Christians and the Infidels. The governor, who was immediately apprized of his
behaviour, was strangely enraged, and commanded the zealous servant of Christ
to be whipped at the corners of all the streets in the city, his lips to be
bored with a red-hot iron in the market-place, and his mouth shut up with a
padlock, the key of which he kept himself, and only gave to the keepers when
the prisoner was to eat. In this condition he was loaded with iron bolts and
chains, and cast into a dark dungeon, where he lay full eight months, till his
ransom was brought by some religious men of his Order, who were sent with it by
St. Peter. Raymund was unwilling to leave his dungeon, or at least the country
of the infidels, where he desired to remain to assist the slaves; but he
acquiesced in obedience to the orders of his general, begging God would accept
his tears, seeing he was not worthy to shed his blood for the souls of his
neighbours
Upon his return to Spain he was nominated cardinal by Pope Gregory IX. But so
little was he affected with the involuntary honour, that he neither changed his
dress, nor his poor cell in the convent, nor his manner of living. Much less
could he be prevailed upon by the nobility of the country to accept of a
palace, to admit an equipage or train, or to suffer any rich furniture to be
added to his little necessaries in his cell. The pope, being desirous to have
so holy a man about his person, and to employ him in the public affairs of the
church, called him to Rome. The saint obeyed, but could not be persuaded to
travel otherwise than as a poor religious man. He went no further than Cardona,
which is only six miles from Barcelona, when he was seized with a violent
fever, which, by the symptoms which attended it, soon appeared to be mortal.
St. Raymund prepared himself for his last passage. Some historians relate that
he was favoured with a vision of angels, in which he received the holy
viaticum. His death happened on the 31st of August, in the year 1240, the
thirty-seventh of his age. He was buried in a chapel of St. Nicholas, near the
farm in which he had formerly lived. St. Peter Nolasco founded a great convent
in that place, in 1255, and St. Raymund’s relics are still kept in that church.
The history of many miracles wrought by his means is to be seen in the
Bollandists. Pope Alexander VII. inserted his name in the Martyrology in 1657.
This saint gave not only his substance but also his liberty, and even exposed
himself to the most cruel torments and death, for the redemption of captives,
and the salvation of souls. But alas! how cold now-a-days is charity in our
breasts, though it be the essential characteristic of true Christians! Far from
the heroic sentiments of the saints, do not we, merely to gratify our
prodigality, vanity, or avarice, refuse to give the superfluous part of our
possessions to the poor, who, for want of it, are perishing with cold and
hunger? Are not we slothful and backward in affording a visit or comfort to
poor prisoners, or sick persons, or in using our interest to procure some
relief for the distressed? Are we not so insensible to their spiritual miseries
as to be without all feeling for them, and to neglect even to commend them to
God with sufficient earnestness, to admonish sinners according to our
circumstances and the rules of prudence, or to instruct, by ourselves and
others, those under our care? By this mark is it not manifest that self-love,
and not the love of God and our neighbour, reigns in our hearts, whilst we seek
and pursue so inordinately our own worldly interest, and are sensible to it
alone? Let us sound our own hearts, and take an impartial view of our lives,
and we shall feel whether this test of Christ, or that of Satan, which is
self-love, be more sensible in our affections, and which of them is the
governing principle of our actions.
Note 1. John xiii.
34, 35, xv.
12, &c. [back]
Note 2. The surname of Nonnatus or Unborn, was given him, because he was
taken out of the body of his mother after her death by the Cæsarian operation.
M. Mery has started objections in theory against the possibility of such an
operation, which deserve the attention of practitioners. (Mem. de l’Acad. an.
1708.) Nevertheless, it is justified by many remarkable instances: among
others, Scipio Africanus, thence surnamed Cæsar, Manlius of Carthage, and
according to some authors, Julius Cæsar, were by this means saved from
perishing in the womb. See Heister’s Surgery on this article, &c. Such an
operation is never to be attempted without undoubted marks that the mother is
really dead, lest a like misfortune happen to that by which an eminent surgeon
was so shocked, as to renounce from that moment his profession. [back]
Note 3. 2 Cor. xii.
15. [back]
Note 4. S. Chrys. Or. 3, contra Jud. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume VIII: August. The Lives
of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/311.html
Weninger’s
Lives of the Saints – Saint Raymund Nonnatus, Confessor
Article
Catalonia was the native
country of Saint Raymund who, to the astonishment of the Physicians, was born
after his mother’s death. As soon as he was old enough to comprehend how early
he had become an orphan, he chose the Queen of Heaven as his mother, and to his
last day, called her by no other name. When he had studied for some time with
great success, his father, fearing the youth would enter a Religious Order,
sent him into the country to take care of a farm. Raymund obeyed, and found
there also opportunity to serve God. He became very fond of solitude and
therefore chose for his occupation the care of the sheep, in order to gain more
time for prayer and meditation. At the foot of the mountain to which he
generally led his flock, was a small, deserted hermitage, with a chapel, in
which an extremely lovely picture of the Blessed Virgin was kept, which was a
source of great joy to him. He there spent several hours daily, in devout
exercises. Other shepherds, who observed this, and to whom the piety of Raymund
was a reproach of their own negligence, reported to his father that he was
doing nothing but praying, and thereby neglected his flock. The father came to
convince himself of the fact, but although he found his son praying in the
chapel, he saw that the flock was meanwhile attended to by a youth of uncommon
beauty of form and features. Asking his son who this young shepherd was, and
why he had engaged him, Raymund, to whom it was unknown that Providence had
worked a miracle in his behalf, fell on his knees before his father, and
begging forgiveness, earnestly promised not to commit the fault again. The
Divine Mother, of whom he begged the grace of knowing his vocation, appeared to
him, saying that she desired him to take the habit of the newly established
Order for the redemption of captives. He did so, and was sent to Algiers where
he found a great many Christians in slavery, and as the money he had brought
for their ransom was not sufficient, he offered himself as a hostage to redeem
the others. He was induced to this by the danger in which the prisoners were of
losing their faith and with it eternal life. This great and heroic charity gave
him occasion to suffer much for the sake of Christ. At first, he was treated
very harshly by his masters, but when they began to fear that he would die
before the ransom was paid, they allowed him more liberty, which the holy man
used only for the salvation of the captive Christians. He strengthened them in
their faith, and, at the same time, endeavored to convert the infidels. Accused
of this before the Judge, he was condemned to be impaled alive, and nothing but
the hope of a large ransom prevented the execution of this barbarous sentence,
and caused it to be changed into a cruel bastinado. Raymund, who desired
nothing more fervently than to die for Christ’s sake, was not intimidated by
what he had undergone, but wherever an opportunity offered itself, he explained
to the infidels the word of God. The Judge, informed of it, ordered him to be
whipped through all the streets of the city, and then to be brought to the
market-place, where the executioner, with a red hot iron, pierced his lips,
through which a small chain was drawn and closed with a padlock, in order that
the holy man might no more use his tongue to instruct others. Every three days
the lock was opened, and he received just enough food to keep him from
starvation. Besides this, he was loaded with chains, and cast into a dungeon,
where he lay for eight months, until his ransom arrived. Although it was the
desire of the Saint to remain among the infidels, as he would there have an
opportunity to gain the crown of martyrdom, obedience recalled him to his
monastery.
When the Pope was
informed of all that Raymund had suffered during his captivity, he nominated
him Cardinal; but the humble Saint returned to his convent and lived like all
the other brothers of the Order, without making the least change in his dress,
food, or dwelling, nor accepting any honor due to him as so high a dignitary of
the Church. Gregory IX, desired to have so holy a man near him, and called him
to Rome. The Saint obeyed and set out on his journey. He had, however, scarcely
reached Cardona, six miles from Barcelona, when he was seized with a malignant
fever, which soon became fatal. He desired most fervently to receive the holy
Sacraments, but as the priest called to administer them to him, delayed to
come, God sent an angel, who brought him the divine food. After receiving it,
he returned thanks to God for all the graces he had received from Him during
his life, and peacefully gave up his soul, in the 37th year of his age. After
his death, the inhabitants of Cardona, the clergy of Barcelona and the
religious of his order, contended as to where the holy body should be buried.
Each party thought they had the greatest claim to possess his tomb. At last
they resolved to leave the decision to Providence. They placed the coffin, in
which the holy body reposed, upon a blind mule, determined that the treasure
should be deposited in the place to which this animal should carry it. The
mule, accompanied by a large concourse of people, went on until it had reached
the hermitage and chapel where the holy cardinal, as a shepherd boy, had spent
so many hours in prayer, and had received so many graces from God. There the
Saint was buried, and Saint Peter Nolasco, in the course of time, founded there
a Convent, with a Church in which the holy remains are still preserved and
greatly honored by the people of Catalonia.
Practical Considerations
• Saint Raymund
instructed the faithful and the infidels; and to prevent him from this, his
enemies most barbarously closed his moutfi with a lock. Oh! how much more just
it would be, if such a lock were suspended from your mouth, which you open so
frequently to lie, to curse, to blaspheme, to quarrel, to calumniate, to make
impure speeches, to sing impure songs, and to talk frivolously in Churches. But
believe me, if your mouth is not punished in this world, it will most surely
suffer in the next, and as the mouth of Saint Raymund, which he used so nobly,
and in which he suffered so cruelly, will be specially rewarded in the abode of
the angels, so will your wicked mouth be specially punished in the dwelling of
the evil spirits. Saint Gregory believes that the rich man suffers special
pains in his tongue, because he used it at table for indecent speeches, as is
yet today the habit of many. The same punishment awaits your tongue, your
sinful mouth; and if you wish to escape it, be careful how you use them. Place
the fear of God as a guard over them, that they may not utter a word offensive
to the Most High. “Hedge in thine ears with thorns, hear not a wicked tongue,
and make doors and bars to thy mouth.” (Eccles. 28)
• Saint Raymund, at the
close of his days, gave fervent thanks to the Almighty for all favors bestowed
upon him, and thus ended his life full of heavenly comfort. To give thanks to
God is a duty which we ought to perform every morning and evening; for, no day,
no night passes in which we, do not partake of the bounty of the Lord. You
thank men who bestow kindness upon you; why then do you not thank God who has
overwhelmed you with favors, and still grants them to you daily. Do not forget
your duty, but attend to it every day. Give thanks to Him also at the end of
each month, in consideration of so many benefits which you have received from
Him and for which you did not even ask. Whom have you to thank that you did not
die during the past four weeks; that you have dot been condemned to eternal
flames, as so many that have been called away? Whence comes it that you were
preserved from the dangers and misfortunes that befell so many others? that
time and opportunity are left you to work out your salvation, whilst thousands
no longer possess them? Most assuredly, these are all benefits of the Almighty
which you deserve much less than a great many others. Is it not just that you
should give fervent thanks to God at the end of each month? But is your soul in
such a condition that you can end this month or close your life, as peacefully
as Saint Raymund? Ah! if you had lived as he did, if you had constantly
practiced good works, and had borne adversity with his patience, you might be
comforted now, as well as at the end of your days. As, however, this is
unhappily not the case, repent of your wickedness and indolence with your whole
heart, and pray humbly for grace to make better use of the next month. Endeavor
to atone, during the same, for your past negligence, that, one day you may not
sigh uselessly: “I have had empty months.” (Job 8) “Who will grant me that I
might be according to the months past” (Job 29)
MLA
Citation
Father Francis Xavier
Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Raymund Nonnatus, Confessor”. Lives
of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info.
30 April 2018. Web. 12 November 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-raymund-nonnatus-confessor/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-raymund-nonnatus-confessor/
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Raymund Nonnatus
Saint
Raymund Nonnatus was born in Catalonia, in the year 1204, and was descended of
a gentleman’s family of a small fortune. In his childhood he seemed to find
pleasure only in his devotions and serious duties. His father, perceiving in
him an inclination to a religious state, took him from school, and sent him to
take care of a farm which he had in the country. Raymund readily obeyed, and,
in order to enjoy the opportunity of holy solitude, kept the sheep himself, and
spent his time in the mountains and forests in holy meditation and prayer. Some
time after, he joined the new Order of our Lady of Mercy for the redemption of
captives, and was admitted to his profession at Barcelona by the holy founder,
Saint Peter Nolasco. Within two or three years after his profession, he was
sent into Barbary with a considerable sum of money, where he purchased, at
Algiers, the liberty of a great number of slaves. When all this treasure was
exhausted, he gave himself up as a hostage for the ransom of certain others.
This magnanimous sacrifice served only to exasperate the Mohammedans, who
treated him with uncommon barbarity, till, fearing lest if he died in their
hands they should lose the ransom which was to be paid for the slaves for whom
he remained a hostage, they gave orders that he should be treated with more
humanity. Hereupon he was permitted to go abroad about the streets, which
liberty he made use of to comfort and encourage the Christians in their chains,
and he converted and baptized some Mohammedans. For this the governor condemned
him to be put to death by thrusting a stake into the body, but his punishment
was commuted, and he underwent a cruel bastinado. This torment did not daunt
his courage. So long as he saw souls in danger of perishing eternally, he
thought lie had yet done nothing. Saint Raymund had no more money to employ in
releasing poor captives, and to speak to a Mohammedan upon the subject of
religion was death. He could, however, still exert his endeavors, with hopes of
some success, or of dying a martyr of charity. He therefore resumed his former
method of instructing and exhorting both the Christians and the infidels. The
governor, who was enraged, ordered our Saint to be barbarously tortured and
imprisoned till his ransom was brought by some religious men of his Order, who
were sent with it by St. Peter. Upon his return to Spain, he was nominated
cardinal by Pope Gregory IX., and the Pope, being desirous to have so holy a
man about his person, called him to Rome. The Saint obeyed, but went no further
than Cardona, when he was seized with a violent fever, which proved mortal. He
died on the 31st of August, in the year 1240, the thirty-seventh of his age.
Reflection – This Saint
gave not only his substance but his liberty, and even exposed himself to the
most cruel torments and death, for the redemption of captives and the salvation
of souls. But alas, do not we, merely to gratify our prodigality, vanity, or
avarice, refuse to give the superfluous part of our possessions to the poor,
who for want of it are perishing with cold and hunger? Let us remember that “He
that giveth to the poor shall not want.”
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-raymund-nonnatus/
Saint
Raymond Nonnatus, Cardinal and Confessor
According to the words of
our Divine Redeemer, that Christian proves he is God’s most faithful disciple
and gives the surest and greatest proof of his love of God, when he most
perfectly loves his neighbor for God’s sake. We are able to form our judgment
of Saint Nonnatus by this same test.
Saint Raymund was brought
into the world at Portel in Catalonia in the year 1204. He was called non
natus, “not born,” because he was taken out of the body of his mother after her
death in labor. In his childhood, he seemed to find no other pleasure than in
his devotions and his grammar studies. His father took him from school and sent
him to take care of a farm that he owned in the country. Raymund readily obeyed
and enjoyed the opportunity of solitude.
He was pressed by his
friends to go to the court of Arragon, where by his prudence and abilities he
could not fail to better himself, especially as he was related to the
illustrious houses of Foix and Cardona. Instead of doing this, he made a
resolution to take the religious habit in the new order of Our Lady of Mercy
for the redemption of captives. With holy Job, he could say that compassion for
the poor and distressed had grown in him as he had grown from childhood. The
sufferings of the Christians almost under his eyes, who in the neighboring
provinces groaned in slavery under the Moors, particularly afflicted his heart.
Because he was so compassionate, Raymund already bore their burdens and felt
the weight of their chains. But, if he was moved at their bodily sufferings and
desired to devote himself and all that he possessed to procure them comfort and
relief, he was much more troubled by their spiritual danger of sinking under their
calamities and losing their souls by impatience or apostasy from Christ.
Against this, he never ceased to pray, entreating the God of mercy to be
Himself the comfort and support of the weak and of the strong. With Saint Paul,
Raymund wished to spend and be spent himself for their souls. Through the
mediation of the Count of Cardona, Raymund obtained leave of his father to
enter the Mercedarian order. He was accordingly admitted to his profession at
Barcelona by Saint Peter Nolasco.
Raymund’s progress in the
perfection of his institute was so swift that within two or three years after
his profession he was judged the best qualified to discharge the office of
“ransomer,” in which he succeeded Saint Peter. He was sent into Barbary with a
considerable sum of money, where he purchased the liberty of a number of slaves
at Algiers. When all other resources were exhausted, he voluntarily gave
himself up as a hostage for the ransom of others whose situation was desperate
and whose faith was chtp imminent danger.
The sacrifice Saint
Nonnatus made of his own liberty served only to exasperate the Algerians and
they treated him with barbarity. Fearing, if Raymund died in their hands, they
would lose the ransom stipulated to be paid for the slaves for whom he remained
a hostage, the magistrate of the city ordered that he should be treated with
more humanity. Raymund was then permitted to go about the streets. He made use
of this liberty to comfort and encourage the Christians and he converted and
baptized some Mohammedans. When the governor heard of this, he condemned him to
be impaled (a barbarous manner of executing criminals much in use among those
infidels). However, those who were interested in the ransom of the captives
prevailed that his life should be spared lest they should be losers. His
punishment was commuted and he was made to run the gauntlet.
This did not daunt
Raymund’ s courage. As long as he saw souls in danger, he thought he had yet
done nothing. He could not pass up any opportunity to minister to those souls
in need. He considered that, as Saint John Chrysostom says, “Though a person
shall have given away a large fortune in alms he has done nothing equal to him
who has contributed to the salvation of a soul. This is a greater alms than ten
thousand pounds — than this whole world, however great it appears to the eye —
for a man is more precious than the whole world.”
Saint Raymund had, on one
side, no more money to employ in releasing poor captives and, on the other,
Islamic law that to speak to a Mohammedan upon the subject of religion was to
court death. He could, therefore, still exert his endeavors hoping for some
success or expecting to die a martyr of charity. He resumed his former method
of instructing and exhorting both Christians and infidels. The governor was
immediately told of his behavior. Enraged, he commanded that the servant of
Christ was to be whipped at the comers of all the city streets, his lips bored
with a red-hot iron in the market-place, and his mouth shut up with a padlock.
The governor kept the key and only gave it to the jailer when the prisoner was
to eat. Saint Raymund Nonnatus was kept in a dungeon in this condition for
eight months, until his ransom was brought by some religious men of his order,
who were sent by Saint Peter. Raymund was unwilling to leave the country of the
infidels where he wanted to assist the slaves, but he acquiesced in obedience
to the orders of his general, begging God to accept his tears, seeing he was
not worthy to shed his blood for the souls of his neighbors.
Upon his return to Spain
in 1239, Pope Gregory IX nominated him cardinal. But Saint Raymund Nonnatus was
so little affected by the unlooked-for honor that he did not change his
clothing, his poor cell in the convent at Barcelona, or his manner of living.
The Pope, wishing to have
so holy a man about his person and to employ him in the public affairs of the
Church, called him to Rome. Saint Nonnatus obeyed, but he could persuaded to
travel in any manner other than as a poor religious. He got no further than
Cardona (Cerdagne), which is only six miles from Barcelona, when he was seized
with a violent fever and died there. He was only about thirty-six years old. He
was buried in the chapel of Saint Nicholas, near the farm where he had formerly
lived at Portello.
The life of Saint Raymund
Nonnatus was not written down until hundreds of years after his death and it is
a task of great difficulty to separate truth from fiction in the document that
has come down to us. It is adorned with numerous miracles and other marvels of
some doubtful worth. He is the patron saint of midwives.
Saint Raymund Nonnatus
gave not only his substance but also his liberty and exposed himself to cruel
torments and death for the redemption of captives and the salvation of souls.
Thus, Saint Raymund Nonnatus passed the test, proving to be a most faithful
disciple of God. He gave the surest and greatest proof of his love of God, when
he loved others for God’s sake.
We are able to form our
judgment of ourselves by this same test. How cold is charity in our breasts,
though it is the essential characteristic of true Christians? Do we not, merely
to gratify our desire for pleasure or out of vanity or avarice, refuse to give
the superfluous part of our possessions to the poor, who, for want of it,
suffer from cold and hunger? Are we not slothful and backward in visiting
unfortunate or sick persons, thus offering some relief for the distressed? Are
we so insensible to their miseries that we have no heartfelt feeling for them
and even neglect to commend them to God with sufficient earnestness? Do we not
fail to remonstrate with sinners according to our circumstances and with regard
for prudence, and neglect to instruct, by ourselves and others, those under our
care? Is it not obvious that self-love, and not the love of God and our
neighbor, reigns in our hearts when we pursue our own worldly interest so
inordinately? If we look into our own hearts and take an impartial view of our
lives, we shall soon know if we pass the Divine Savior’s test or if we are
passing Satan’s test, which is self-love. Which is uppermost in our souls?
Which is the governing principle of our actions?
Saint Raymond Nonnatus,
pray for us.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-raymond-nonnatus-cardinal-and-confessor/
Murcia.Façana
de l'Església conventual de La Merced. Sant Ramon Nonat
Murcia.
Fachada de la iglesia conventual de La Merced. San Ramon Nonato
Murcia
(Spain) Façade of La Merced. Saint Raymond Nonnatus
St. Raymond Nonnatus
Feast: August 31
Patron of Mercedarian
novices, the falsely accused, expectant mothers, Christian family life, and of
the unborn.
The traditional dates for
the life of St. Raymond Nonnatus present him to us as a man of the 13th
century. Born in Portell, when his mother had already died, he came into
the world by the dagger of the Viscount of Cardona, who took the child out of
his mother's womb; hence, he acquired the nickname Nonnatus (not
born).
Nevertheless,
20th-century research shows us a friar named Ramón Surrons, a native son of
Portell, who participated in the chapter in El Puig (1324), and acted as
a definite (counselor of the Provincial) at the chapter in
Lérida (1335). In the latter chapter, he was appointed a redeemer, and
during a redemption campaign in Algiers his lips were padlocked and he suffered
other tortures. He then also participated in the election of the Master
General, Vincente Riera.
We discover in Raymond a
life dedicated to redemptive service, enduring the same sufferings as the
captives, and sustained by the strength of the Eucharist, filial devotion to
the Mother of God and mother of mankind.
According to tradition,
the Pope decided to appoint him cardinal with the titular church of Saint
Eustace, a Roman basilica near the Pantheon, where his image is preserved; but,
while he was traveling to Avignon, he died in Cardona. Having no priest
who could administer Viaticum to him, he received it miraculously, administered
by Jesus Christ Himself accompanied by angels dressed in the Mercedarian habit,
as depicted in the iconography. From there his remains were translated to
the hermitage of Saint Nicholas in Portell.
No doubt he is the most
popular Mercedarian saint, due especially to the activity of the Mercedarian
missionaries to the nations who took him as their patron. For this
reason, his image can be found scattered throughout the world with several
elements that identify him, such as the palm of martyrdom with the triple
crown, and the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament in his right hand.
Because of the miraculous instance of his birth, he is the patron saint
of expectant mothers, who turn to him for protection at the moment of birth.
In some countries, they pray to him also as the patron saint of
pro-life institutions. The Order of Mercy includes in its Ritual two
elements linked to Saint Raymond, the blessing of an expectant mother and the blessing
of water for the benefit of the sick.
The Decree recognizing
his immemorial cult was issued on November 5, 1625. He was included in
the Roman Martyrology on June 19, 1655, and Clement IX granted the extension of
his office and Mass to the whole Church ad libitum. Innocent XI raised his
memorial to a second-class feast day obligatory for the whole Church
on March 10, 1681.
SOURCE : https://www.orderofmercy.org/raymond-nonnatus
St. Raymond Nonnatus, Patron of Expectant Mothers, Midwives, and Newborn Babies
The saint of the day for August 31 is St. Raymond Nonnatus. He is the patron of
expectant mothers, midwives, obstetricians, infertile couples, and newborn
babies.
Raymond was born at Portella, Catalonia, Spain in 1204, the son of wealthy
parents. He was delivered by cesarean section when his mother died in
childbirth. Hence his name non natus (not born). In his childhood, he seemed to
find pleasure only in his devotions and serious duties. His father, sensing
that Raymond was drawn to religious life, ordered him to manage one of the
family farms. Raymond readily obeyed but spent his time with the shepherds and
workers, studying and praying until his father abandoned the idea of making his
son a worldly success.
Raymond later joined the the Order of Our Lady of Mercy or the
Mercederians, which was founded by St. Peter Nolasco, who devoted to ransoming
Christians captured by the Moors. He succeeded Peter as chief ransomer and went
to Algeria to ransom slaves. He remained as hostage for several slaves when his
money ran out and was sentenced to be impaled when the governor learned that he
had converted several Mohammedans. He escaped the death sentence because of the
ransom he would bring, but was forced to run the gauntlet. He was then tortured
for continuing his evangelizing activities but was ransomed eight months later
by Peter Nolasco.
On his return to Barcelona, he was appointed Cardinal by Pope Gregory IX. He
died the following year in 1240 and was canonized in 1657.
Novena Prayer to St. Raymond Nonnatus
O Blessed Saint Raymond Nonnatus, so loving to all your devotees, I being last
of them all, I am happy to know that through the infinite goodness of God, He
has deigned to make you a Saint, adorned thee with special graces and help, for
which I am most thankful. On the Most Holy Trinity, and you my adorable patron
saint, through your merits and those of the blood poured by our Savior Jesus
Christ, and through the Immaculate Conception of Mary, I most humbly beg thee,
deign to intercede from the most sublime God, protection for the holy Mother
Church, that through your prayers, God’s wrath be taken away, see the progress
of true faith, defeat the wrong doctrines, the peace and understanding of all
Christians, peace of the whole country and the redemption of the Christian
captives.
I am humbly begging you my devoted saint, that you be may be my intercessor.
Since for many hours you did not die of the womb of your dead mother an you
were successfully delivered from her side, to be the joy of the world, and that
my soul may live in grace in this earthly world, may I imitate your live and
exemplary holiness, so that when the hour of my death comes, I may detest all
evil thoughts and temporary wealth of this world, so that with the burning love
for God, my soul may reach heaven and together with you and the angels and all
the saints, praise God Almighty forever.
Deign to grant me most amiable father the favor I am asking in this novena
(mention the request). I firmly believe most amiable father that you will be my
protection since you are merciful to any one imploring thy help. But if the
favor I am asking will not be for the glory of God and the good of my soul,
then beg from God that I will be resigned to his Divine Will, so that I may
have the peace of soul while I live, till the hour of my death and that I enjoy
true happiness in heaven.
SOURCE : https://catholicfire.blogspot.com/2016/08/st-raymond-nonnatus-patron-of-expectant.html
Saint Raimond Nonnatus, litografia from 1800
Feast of Saint
Raymond Nonnatus
Posted on August 28, 2015
1204-1240
Feast Day: August 31
Patron of: Newborns
Keywords: midwives,
obstetricians, expectant mothers, women in labor, falsely accused, secrets,
fever
Quote: “For many hours
you did not die in the womb of your dead mother and you were successfully
delivered from her side to be the joy of the world.”
Symbols: monstrance,
palms with three crowns, cardinal’s hat, padlock
‘Non natus’ is Latin for
“never born” and Saint Raymond was given his surname because his mother had
died in labor two days before he was delivered by cesarean section. The fact
that he did not die in his mother’s womb was considered an extraordinary event
in the early thirteenth century, when a good number of mothers and infants were
lost during childbirth. Because of the extraordinary circumstances of his
birth, he always felt an affinity for the precarious state of women in labor
and their infants. For this reason, midwives, obstetricians and expectant
mothers call on him for help in the safe delivery of healthy newborns.
Hailing from Catalonia in
Spain, Raymond’s family were from a noble class. His father attempted to
train him to take over the family farms but because of his great devotion to
the Virgin Mary, he chose instead to join the Mercedarians, a religious order
dedicated to ransoming Christian slaves from the Moors, who occupied much of
Spain. The Mercedarians also spiritually administered to Christian slaves in
Moorish regions. As the Spanish territory was recaptured, and the Moors driven
into North Africa, Raymond Nonnatus followed Christian slaves into Algeria. It
was said he spent his entire inheritance ransoming slaves and when he ran out
of money he substituted himself for another man’s freedom. He was soon
imprisoned for his religious proselytizing and when he succeeded in converting
several of his jailers, the Moors bored holes in his lips and sealed his mouth
shut with an iron padlock to keep him from preaching. Though he was sentenced
to death, the Mercedarians managed to ransom him home to Spain. As he was
enroute to Rome to receive the hat of a cardinal, he was struck down by a fever
and died in Cardona, 60 miles from Barcelonia. It was said that angels fed and
administered communion to Raymond on his deathbed and he is frequently depicted
in the company of angels.
Because of the padlock
put on his lips, Raymond Nonnatus is invoked against gossip and the temptation
to gossip. He is also invoked for help in keeping secrets as well as by priests
for protection of keeping the sacred silence of the confessional. On the feast
of Saint Raymond Nonnatus, it is customary for those who are victims of slander
and gossip to put locks on the saint’s altar to silence their persecutors. In
many images Saint Raymond Nonnatus carries the palm of martyrs signifying life
defeating death, his palm has three crowns, for chastity, eloquence, and
martyrdom.
Invoked for: safe
childbirth, a healthy newborn, to silence gossip, against fever
Prayer to St. Raymond
Nonnatus
(Prayer to obtain some
special favor through the intercession of St. Raymond. Novena from August
23-31.)
Glorious St. Raymond, filled
with compassion for those who invoke thee and with love for those who suffer
heavily leaden with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at thy feet and
humbly beg of thee to take the present affair which I recommend to thee under
thy special protection. ( your request here) Vouchsafe to recommend it to
the Blessed Virgin Mary and lay it before the Throne of Jesus, so that He may
bring it to a happy issue. Cease not to intercede for me until my request is
granted. Above all obtain for me the grace of one day beholding my God face to
Face, and with thee and Mary and the saints praising and blessing to all
eternity. Amen.
Good St. Raymond, pray
for us and obtain our request.
Good St. Raymond, pray
for us and obtain our request.
Good St. Raymond, pray
for us and obtain our request.
Our Father, Hail Mary and
Glory be.
(Excerpted from the
Novena App).:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/novena/id631346670?mt=8
SOURCE : https://novena.com/2015/08/28/feast-of-saint-raymond-nonnatus/
Francisco Pacheco (1564–1644), Mercedarians Ransoming Christian Captives, circa 1600, Museo de arte de Catalunya, Barcelona
Mercedarians
(Order of Our Lady of Mercy).
A congregation of men
founded in 1218 by St.
Peter Nolasco, born 1189, at Mas-des-Saintes-Puelles, Department of
Aude, France.
Joining Simon de Montfort's army, then attacking the Albigenses, he was
appointed tutor to the young king, James of Aragon, who had
succeeded to the throne after the death of his father, Pedro II, killed
at the battle of Muret. Peter Nolasco followed his pupil to his capital, Barcelona, in 1215. From
the year 1192 certain noblemen of that city had formed a confraternity for the
purpose of caring for the sick in hospitals, and also for
rescuing Christian captives
from the Moors.
Peter Nolasco was requested by the Blessed Virgin in a
vision to found an order especially devoted to the ransom of captives. His
confessor, St Raymond of Pennafort, the canon of Barcelona, encouraged and
assisted him in this project; and King James also extended his protection. The
noblemen already referred to were the first monks of the order,
and their headquarters was the convent St. Eulalie
of Barcelona, erected 1232. They had both religious in holy orders, and
lay monks or knights; the choir monks were clothed
in tunic, scapular,
and cape of white. These religious followed the rule drawn up for them by St
Raymond of Pennafort. The order was approved, first by Honorius III and
then by Gregory IX (1230),
the latter, at the request of St Raymond Nonnatus presented by St Peter
Nolasco, granted a Bull of
confirmation and prescribed the Rule of St. Augustine,
the former rule now forming the constitutions (1235). St. Peter was the first
superior, with the title of Commander-General; he also filled the office of
Ransomer, a title given to the monk sent into the
lands subject to the Moors to
arrange for the ransom of prisoners. The holy
founder died in 1256, seven years after having resigned his superiorship; he
was succeeded by Guillaume Le Bas.
The development of the
order was immediate and widespread throughout France, England, Germany, Portugal, and Spain. As the Moors were driven
back, new convents of
Mercy were established. Houses were founded at Montpelier, Perpignan, Toulouse, and Vich. The great number
of houses, however, had a weakening effect on the uniformity of observance of
the rule. To correct this, Bernard de Saint-Romain, the third commander general
(1271), codified the decisions of the general chapters. In the fourteenth century,
disputes arose from the rivalry between the convents of
Barcelona and Puy, and from the discord between the priests and knights, which ended in
the latter's suppression, disturbed the peace of the order. Christopher Columbus took
some members of the Order of Mercy with him to America, where they founded a
great many convents in
Latin America, throughout Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. These formed no
less than eight provinces, whereas they only had three in Spain and one
in France. This
order took a very active part in the conversion of the Indians. At the
beginning of the seventeenth century Father Gonzales, who had made his
profession in the convent of
Olmedo in 1573, conceived the idea of a reform,
at that time necessary.
The commander-general, Alfonso de Montoy, at first supported this scheme, but
ended by opposing it. In this undertaking, Gonzales was assisted by the
Countess of Castellan, who obtained for him the necessary authorization
from Clement VIII,
and presented him with three convents for the
reformed monks (at
Viso, Diocese of Seville; Almoragha, Diocese of Cadiz;
Ribas). The reform was confirmed at the provincial chapter of Guadelajara in
1603. Father Gonzales took the name of John Baptist of the Blessed Sacrament, and
died at Madrid in
1618. Paul V approved
his reform in 1606; in 1621 Gregory XV declared
it independent of the monks of
the Great Observance. Their convents formed two
provinces, with houses at Madrid, Salamanca, Seville, and Alcalá,
with a few foundations in Sicily.
Father Antoine* Velasco
founded a convent of nuns of Our Lady of
Mercy at Seville in 1568, of which the first superioress was Blessed Ann of the
Cross. This foundation had been authorized by Pius V. The reformed
branch also established houses of barefooted nuns, or Nuns of the
Recollection, at Lura, Madrid, Santiago de
Castile, Fuentes, Thoro, and elsewhere. The female tertiaries
go back to the very beginning of the order (1265). Two widows of
Barcelona, Isabel Berti and Eulalie Peins, whose confessor was Blessed Bernard
of Corbario, prior of
the convent there,
were the foundresses. They were joined by several companions, among them St.
Mary of Succour (d. 31 Decemb., 1281), the first superior of the community.
Blessed Mary Anne of Jesus (d. 1624) founded another community of tertiaries,
under the jurisdiction of
the reformed branch. The Order of Mercy of late years has much decreased in
membership. The restoration of the reformed convent at
Thoro, Diocese of
Zamora, Spain,
is worthy of note (1888). At present the order has one province and one
vice-province in Europe,
and four provinces and two vice-provinces in America, with thirty-seven convents and five
to six hundred members. The Mercedarian convents are in
Palermo; Spain;
Venezuela (Caracas, Maracaibo); Peru (Lima); Chile (Santiago); Argentina (Cordova,
Mendoza); Ecuador (Quito); and Uruguay. The
Mercedarians of Cordova publish
"Revista Mercedaria".
Besides the
founder, St. Peter
Nolasco, the following illustrious members of the order may be
mentioned: St.
Raymond Nonnatus (d. 1240), the most famous of the monks who gave
themselves up to the work of ransoming captives; Blessed Bernard of Corbario,
already mentioned; St. Peter Paschal, Bishop of Jaén, who devoted all
his energies to the ransom of captives and the conversion of the Musselmans, martyred in 1300;
St. Raymond was a cardinal,
as also were Juan de Luto and Father de Salazar. It is unnecessary to enumerate
the archbishops and bishops. Writers were
numerous, especially in Spain and Latin
America in the seventeenth century. To mention only a few: Alfonso Henriquez de
Almendaris, Bishop of Cuba, who founded
a college for
his order at Seville,
and from whom Philip III received an interesting report on the spiritual and
temporal condition of his diocese in 1623;
Alfonso de Monroy, who drew up the constitutions of the reform, and who was
a bishop in
America; Alfonso Ramón, theologian, preacher,
and annalist of
his order; Alfonso Velásquez de Miranda (1661), who took a considerable part in
political affairs; Fernando de Orio, general of the order, who translated and
learnedly commented on Tertullian's treatise
"De Poenitentia"; Fernando de Santiago (1639), one of the favourite
preachers of his time; Francisco Henríquez; Francisco de Santa Maria; Francisco
Zumel; Gabriel de Adarzo (1674), theologian, preacher,
and statesman; Gabriel
Tellez (1650), dramatic author; Gaspar de Torrez, Bishop of the Canary Islands; Pedro de
Ona, whom Philip III sent on important missions both in America and in
the Kingdom of
Naples.
Besse, Jean. "Mercedarians." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10197b.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Trevor Lipscombe.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10197b.htm
Carlo Saraceni, Sermon of Saint Raymond Nonnatus, 1612-1614, Curia Generalizia of the Mercedarians, Roma
San Raimondo Nonnato Religioso
Portell (Spagna), 1200 -
Cardona (Spagna), 31 agosto 1240
Non si sa molto della sua
vita. Il soprannome significa non partorito dalla madre viva, «non-nato», ossia
estratto dal corpo senza vita di lei, morta prima di darlo alla luce. Forse di
nobile famiglia, Raimondo verso il 1224 entrò nell'Ordine religioso della
Mercede (detto anche dei Mercedari), fondato pochi anni prima con lo scopo di
riscattare e di curare la formazione religiosa e morale degli schiavi nelle
regioni spagnole ancora occupate dagli Arabi. Dopo che gli spagnoli liberarono
gran parte del territorio, Raimondo partì per l'Algeria, dove venne fatto
prigioniero. Per impedirgli di predicare, gli misero una sorta di morso.
Tornato in Catalogna, diventato ormai famoso, venne chiamato a Roma da papa
Gregorio IX che nel 1239 lo nominò cardinale. Ma durante il viaggio, morì
assalito da violenti febbri. San Raimondo è considerato anche il patrono delle
ostetriche.(Avvenire)
Etimologia: Raimondo
= intelligenza protettrice, dal tedesco
Martirologio
Romano: A Cardona in Catalogna, san Raimondo Nonnato, che fu tra i primi
compagni di san Pietro Nolasco nell’Ordine della Beata Maria Vergine della
Mercede e si tramanda che abbia molto patito in nome di Cristo per la
liberazione dei prigionieri.
Nonnato è un soprannome,
che ricorda in mezzo a quale tragedia familiare Raimondo è venuto al mondo.
Non-nato, ossia non partorito dalla madre viva, bensì estratto dal corpo senza
vita di lei, morta prima di darlo alla luce. Pare che fosse di famiglia
nobile, con alte parentele nell’aristocrazia catalana. Ma non abbiamo molte
informazioni sicure sul suo casato e anche sulla vita. Nella sua Catalogna
libera dalla dominazione araba, Raimondo vive i tempi della Reconquista, cioè
della riscossa guidata dalla coalizione dei re di Navarra, di Aragona e di
Castiglia, che lascerà infine sotto controllo arabo soltanto il modesto regno
meridionale di Granada.
Lui però non combatte in
queste guerre. Verso il 1224 si arruola in un esercito tutto speciale: l’Ordine
religioso della Mercede (detto anche dei Mercedari), fondato pochi anni prima
dal suo amico Pietro Nolasco con uno scopo principale: il riscatto e la
formazione religiosa e morale degli schiavi nelle regioni spagnole ancora
occupate dagli Arabi. Riscatto in senso letterale: i Mercedari, infatti, pagano
una somma per liberare gli schiavi e li riportano nei luoghi d’origine,
dedicandosi pure all’assistenza e all’istruzione religiosa di questi infelici.
Non abbiamo notizie
precise sugli studi di Raimondo. Ma c’è una notizia che consente di
attribuirgli una certa preparazione giuridica, una conoscenza del diritto
canonico. L’Ordine dei Mercedari, infatti, lo manda a Roma come patrocinatore
di una sua causa presso la Santa Sede.
Quando le guerre dei re
spagnoli liberano gran parte del territorio, uno dei campi d’azione dei
Mercedari resta il Nord-Africa, dove ci sono molti prigionieri in mano a capi
locali. Raimondo va a stabilirsi in Algeria, ma qui viene fatto prigioniero. O
lo tengono come ostaggio. Comunque si vuole impedirgli di parlare e predicare
agli schiavi. Ma siccome lui continua ugualmente la sua opera, si cerca di
farlo tacere con la forza. (E anche, secondo un racconto, con una sorta di morso
che gli serra la bocca). Ritrovata la libertà, torna in Catalogna, dove
l’avventura africana lo ha reso popolarissimo. Già gli si attribuiscono
miracoli. Papa Gregorio IX nel 1239 lo nomina cardinale, chiamandolo a Roma
come suo consigliere. Raimondo incomincia appena il viaggio nell’estate del
1240, e già a Cardona, presso Barcellona, è bloccato da violente febbri, che
troncano la sua vita ad appena quarant’anni.
Lì viene sepolto, in una
chiesetta che diventerà santuario in suo onore, con un culto popolare che avrà
la sanzione pontificia solo nel 1657 (inserimento del suo nome nel Martirologio
romano) e nel 1681 (estensione della sua festa a tutta la Chiesa). Date le
condizioni in cui è nato, san Raimondo è considerato anche il patrono delle
ostetriche.
Autore: Domenico
Agasso
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/68300
Francisco
de Zurbarán, San Ramón Nonato, circa 1636. Private Collection
San Ramón Nonato
Ramón Nonato, San. Monfort (?), ú. t. s. xiii – Castillo de Cardona (Barcelona), XII.1338. Mercedario (OdeM), redentor de cautivos, nombrado cardenal, fallece antes de recibir el capelo cardenalicio, santo.
Biografía
Fue uno de los célebres
clérigos mercedarios, del antiguo Reino de Aragón, que desarrolló su vida en el
último cuarto del siglo xiii y en los treinta y ocho primeros años del siglo
xiv. Se puede afirmar que fue aureolado ya en vida por su extraño nacimiento,
al ser sacado del vientre de su madre muerta —una de las cesáreas antiguas más
célebres—, lo que le valió el sobrenombre de “nonnat”, nonato o no-nacido.
La tradición habló
siempre que había visto la luz en el pueblo de Portell. Ahora, al tener en
cuenta los datos del Archivo Vaticano, se deduce que su lugar de nacimiento es
un pueblo denominado “Monfort”.
Actualmente se encuentra
un Monfort en Valencia.
También en el sur de
Francia. Se sabe muy poco, documentalmente de su origen, infancia y juventud,
pero no cabe la menor duda de que existió, fue redentor de cautivos, a quien
horadaron los labios con un candado para que no predicase el Evangelio, y es el
primer cardenal mercedario, aunque sin recibir el capelo cardenalicio, por
fallecer en el ínterim.
Ya adulto, ingresó en la
Orden, entonces laical, pero que empezaba a tener un cierto número de clérigos,
bajo la obediencia de un maestre general laico: hace su noviciado y profesión;
luego, estudios y ordenación presbiteral. Desde 1317, fue uno de los que
colaboró de cerca, probablemente, con Raimundo Albert (electo maestro general
clérigo, en el capítulo general, al que asiste la casi totalidad de frailes
mercedarios, laicos y clérigos, ciento noventa y cinco en total: ochenta y
siete personalmente; los demás por sus “procuradores”, el 10 de julio
exactamente, con abstención, al votar, de la mayoría de laicos. Desde entonces,
la Merced pasa a ser Orden clerical, conservando laicos; algunos, durante
cierto tiempo siguieron siendo comendadores, bajo la dirección de Albert, que
gobierna desde 1317 a 1330).
Desde luego se sabe, y
así lo recoge toda la hagiografía mercedaria, lo mismo que la iconografía, que
fue nombrado redentor en Argel, donde, a la vez, predica la fe cristiana. Esto
le valió el que encadenasen sus labios con un candado. Fue redimido por los
mismos mercedarios. Se deduce —según el historiador mercedario Guillermo
Vázquez— que su nombre de familia o apellido era Surróns, pues así aparece
también en el historiador Antillón, de la provincia de Aragón, que se lo
comunica al historiador mercedario padre Vargas, residente en Roma (siglo
xvii). Desarrolló, pues, su actividad durante el generalato del padre Albert, y
luego, en parte, del siguiente, padre Berenguer Cantull (1331-1343).
En un cuadro, recuperado
por la Merced, obra del gran pintor Alonso Vázquez, que en 1603 lo compuso para
el claustro del convento grande de Sevilla, junto al pintor Pacheco, el suegro
de Velázquez, que habla de él, aparece como redentor, mientras un moro prepara
el candado. Acaso, con ocasión de su canonización, conjuntamente con san Pedro
Nolasco, en noviembre de 1628, para los festejos del año siguiente escribió
también Mira de Amescua, sobre san Ramón Nonato, la pieza teatral: Santo
sin nacer y mártir sin morir.
Tres años después de la
famosa anécdota del candado en los labios, fue elegido cardenal de la Iglesia
por el papa benedictino Benedicto XII (1334-1342), con el título de San
Esteban. Pero —y en esto está de acuerdo toda la tradición, ahora ya
documentada, aunque en etapa distinta a la tradicional— falleció antes de ser
oficialmente revestido de cardenal y de recibir el capelo.
En suma: se puede afirmar
que san Ramón Nonato aparece en los capítulos de la Orden, a finales del siglo
xiii, como Ramón Surróns; y en el nombramiento cardenalicio como Ramón de
Monfort. Éstos serían, por consiguiente, sus apellidos: Surróns (familiar) y de
Monfort (lugar del nacimiento). El pueblo, naturalmente le siguió llamando
siempre Ramón Nonato.
Y así es reconocido hoy
día también.
Gozó, y sigue gozando,
tanto en la época del “culto inmemorial”, como después de canonizado, de enorme
popularidad. Es Patrono de las madres gestantes y del hijo “nasciturus”.
Es de extraordinaria importancia para precisar documentalmente su existencia, un nombre, Eubel, Documentos vaticanos sobre nombramientos de Cardenales, desde el siglo xii al siglo xv. Señala cómo el monje cisterciense, luego obispo de Palmiers y de Mirepoix, elegido papa, con el nombre de Benedicto XII, personalidad culta y destacada por su ortodoxia, en consistorio reunido en Aviñón el 18 de diciembre de 1338, nombra seis cardenales clérigos, de los que tres eran religiosos. Después de Guillermo de Comti, cisterciense, obispo de Albi, viene “Raimundus de Monfort, Ordinis Beatae Mariae de Mercede”, con el título de San Esteban. Falleció antes de recibir el capelo, y sustituido por el benedictino Guillermo de Aure de Montolien.
Bibliografía
Antillón, OdeM,
manuscritos sobre San Pedro Nolasco y San Ramón Nonato (ms. en la Biblioteca
Nacional), s. l., s. f.
B. de Vargas, Chrónica
Sacri [...]Ordinis Beatae Mariae de Mercede, Redemptionis Captivorum, t. I,
Panormi, Apud Joannem Baptistam Maringum Impressorem, 1619, págs. 150-155
M. Flicher, Historia
de la Iglesia, vol. XI, Valencia, Edicep, 1979, pág. 350 (incluye a Eubel)
L. Vázquez, “San Ramón
Nonato, Cardenal mercedario, patrono de las madres gestantes”, en Nuevo
Año Cristiano, Madrid, Edibesa, agosto de 2001, págs. 714-717.
Autor/es
Luis Vázquez Fernández,
OdeM
SOURCE : https://historia-hispanica.rah.es/biografias/37075-san-ramon-nonato
S. Ramón Nonato 31/08
Ramón, conocido
universalmente por su nacimiento atípico, como Nonato o no nacido, es, con
mucho, el personaje mercedario santo que más popularidad ha logrado entre los
fieles cristianos, en los lugares, reinos y naciones en los que se implantó la
Orden de la Merced.
San Ramón nació en el
pueblo de Portell, situado en la comarca de la Segarra, provincia de Lérida,
cuando alboreaba el siglo XII. Y le pusieron el sobrenombre de nonato o no
nacido, por haber salido a la luz del mundo por la incisión, inspirada y
urgente, que la daga del vizconde de Cardona practicó en el vientre de la madre
muerta. En su adolescencia y juventud primera se dedicó al pastoreo de un
rebaño de ovejas por los contornos de la ermita románica dedicada a san
Nicolás, en la que se veneraba una imagen de la Virgen María. Allí nació su
devoción a la Santa Madre de Jesús.
Muy joven ingresó en la
Orden de la Merced. El padre Francisco Zumel narra que este joven Ramón fue
alumno del vigilantísimo primer fraile y Maestre de la Orden, Pedro Nolasco.
Fue, por tanto, redentor de cautivos en tierra de moros. En una redención que
realizó en Argel, debió quedar en rehenes. Fue entonces cuando padeció el
tormento de ver cerrados sus labios con un candado de hierro para impedirle
dirigir palabras de consuelo a los cautivos cristianos y predicar la buena
nueva liberadora del Evangelio. Rescatado por sus hermanos mercedarios, el papa
Gregorio IX lo nombró Cardenal de la Iglesia con el título de San Eustaquio.
Cuando iba ya de viaje a Roma, convocado por el Sumo Pontífice, le alcanzó la
muerte en el fuerte y enriscado castillo de Cardona, el año 1240. Su cuerpo
muerto, cuya posesión se disputaban la Orden de la Merced, el señor vizconde y
la villa de Cardona, fue confiado a la Providencia divina sobre el aparejo de
una mula ciega que, sin guía que la condujera, encaminó su trote, acompañada de
un gentío, hacia la ermita de san Nicolás donde se dio sepultura al venerable
cuerpo.
Canonización
El papa Urbano VIII
reconoce el culto inmemorial del siervo de Dios Ramón Nonato en 1626 y concede
a la Orden la recitación del oficio del común y la celebración de la
misa.
El 20 de octubre de 1655
el papa Alejandro VII autoriza celebrar la fiesta de San Ramón Nonato con
oficio y misa del común en la iglesia de San Eustaquio de Roma. El
mismo pontífice introduce su nombre en el martirologio romano el 19 de junio de
1655, junto con el nombre de Pedro Nolasco.
El papa Clemente IX, el
13 de agosto de 1669, extiende a la iglesia universal la recitación del
oficio y la celebración de la misa con rito semidoble.
Finalmente, el papa
Inocencio XI el 10 de marzo de 1681, lo torna obligatorio a toda la Iglesia con
rito doble. Con esto, Ramón Nonato fué canonizado también de forma
“equipolente”( Benedetto XIV, De Servorum Dei Beatificazione et
BeatorumCanonizationeI\2 La Beatificazione dei Servi di Dio e la Canonizzazione
dei Beati, Roma, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011, 39-40).
Saint Raymond Nonnatus: The Iconography : https://www.christianiconography.info/raymondNonnatus.html
M. Duffy, 2016,
additional material added 2022, Saint Raymond Nonnatus – The Saint Who Really
Exists : https://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/08/saint-raymond-nonnatus-saint-who-really.html
