Saint Nicolas de
Tolentino
Frère de l'ordre des
Ermites de Saint-Augustin (+ 1305)
Né en 1245, originaire des Marches d'Ancône en Italie, il avait une grande vénération pour son saint patron (Son nom vient de ce que ses parents prièrent saint Nicolas de Myre pour avoir un enfant). Il aimait d'ailleurs à se rendre en pèlerinage à Bari, dans le sud de l'Italie où repose l'évêque de Myre.
Entré dans l'Ordre des ermites de Saint Augustin, moine à 18 ans et ordonné prêtre 7 ans plus tard, il se consacra totalement au service de la prière et de la Parole.
Canonisé par le pape Eugène IV en 1446.
Ses reliques ont été redécouvertes en 1926 à Tolentino.
À Tolentino dans les Marches, en 1305, saint Nicolas, prêtre de l'Ordre des
Ermites de Saint-Augustin. D'une austérité très sévère, très strict pour
lui-même, indulgent pour les autres, il offrait souvent à ceux qu'il confessait
de faire pénitence à leur place.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1561/Saint-Nicolas-de-Tolentino.html
%2C_San_Nicola_da_Tolentino.jpg)
Giovanni Giacomo Barbelli, San
Nicola da Tolentino, 1653
SAINT NICOLAS DE
TOLENTINO, CONFESSEUR.
Marie enfant sourit au
lis dont fait hommage à son berceau le représentant d'un grand Ordre. Admis
dans la famille religieuse des Ermites de Saint-Augustin au moment où elle se
groupait et se constituait sous la direction du Vicaire du Christ, Nicolas mérita
d'en être le thaumaturge. Quand il mourut, en 1305, l'exil d'Avignon commençait
pour les Pontifes romains; sa canonisation, retardée près d'un siècle et demi
par les troubles de ces temps, marqua la fin des lamentables dissensions qui
suivirent l'exil.
La paix perdue depuis
tant d'années, la paix dont désespéraient les plus sages: c'était l'ardente
prière, la solennelle adjuration d'Eugène IV, lorsque, au soir d'un laborieux
pontificat, il confiait la cause de l'Eglise à l'humble serviteur de Dieu placé
par lui sur les autels. Ce fut, au témoignage de Sixte Quint (1 Sixti V, Const.
Sancta Romana umversalis Ecclesia.), le plus grand des miracles de saint
Nicolas; miracle qui porta ce dernier Pontife à ordonner la célébration de sa
fête sous le rit double, en un temps où pareil honneur était plus rare
qu'aujourd'hui sur le Cycle.
Lisons le récit, simple
comme sa vie, consacré à la mémoire du bienheureux.
Nicolas de Tolentino,
ainsi appelé du nom de la ville où il demeura davantage, était né de parents
pieux au bourg de Saint-Ange dans la Marche d'Ancône Le désir d'avoir des
enfants ayant conduit par suite d'un vœu à Bari son père et sa mère, ils y
reçurent de saint Nicolas l'assurance qu'ils étaient exaucés: d'où le nom
qu'ils donnèrent ensuite à leur fils. Parmi les nombreuses vertus dont dès
l'enfance il fut le modèle, brilla surtout l'abstinence ; âgé de sept ans à
peine, à l'exemple de son bienheureux patron, il commença de jeûner plusieurs
jours de la semaine, coutume qu'il garda depuis, se contentant de pain et
d'eau.
Déjà inscrit dans la
milice cléricale et chanoine, il était jeune encore, lorsque entendant un
prédicateur de l'Ordre des Ermites de Saint-Augustin parler sur le mépris du
monde, il fut tellement embrasé de son discours qu'il entra aussitôt dans cet
Ordre. On l'y vit observer une forme si parfaite de vie religieuse, qu'il était
la lumière de tous en charité, humilité, patience et toutes vertus, ne portant
qu'un habit grossier, matant son corps par les disciplines et les chaînes de fer,
s'abstenant de chair et de presque tous mets.
Malgré les embûches de
Satan qui cherchait à le troubler en diverses manières et parfois l'accablait
de coups, il ne relâchait rien de son zèle pour l'oraison. Enfin, durant les
six mois qui précédèrent sa mort, il entendit chaque nuit les concerts des
Anges ; c'était l'avant-goût des joies du paradis, et pénétré de leur douceur,
il redisait souvent le mot de l'Apôtre : Je désire de mourir et d'être avec le
Christ. Son désir s'accomplit le quatre des ides de septembre, ainsi qu'il
l'avait annoncé aux frères. Il fut, après comme avant son trépas, illustré
beaucoup de miracles : quels ayant été reconnus canoniquement, le Pape Eugène
IV le mit au nombre des Saints.
Serviteur bon et fidèle,
vous êtes entré dans la joie de votre Seigneur. Il a brisé vos liens ; et du
ciel où vous régnez maintenant, vous nous répétez la parole qui fixa la
sainteté de votre vie mortelle: N'aimez pas le monde, ni ce qui est dans le
monde; car le monde passe, et sa concupiscence avec lui (11 JOHAN. II, 15,
17.). Combien est puissant pour autrui l'homme qui semble ainsi oublier la
terre, c'est ce que fait assez voir le don qui vous fut départi de soulager
toute misère autour de vous, comme au séjour des âmes souffrantes ; et le successeur
de Pierre ne se trompait pas lorsque, vous décernant les honneurs des Saints,
il comptait sur votre crédit au ciel pour ramener dans les voies de la paix la
société longtemps troublée. Puisse donc la parole du disciple bien-aimé que
vous venez de nous redire, vraie semence de salut, pénétrer dans nos âmes et y
produire les fruits qu'elle produisit dans la vôtre : le détachement de ce qui
ne doit pas durer toujours, l'aspiration vers les réalités éternelles, cette
humble simplicité du regard de l'âme qui pacifie l'existence et conduit à Dieu,
cette pureté qui fit de vous l'ami des Anges et le privilégié de Marie.
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/gueranger/anneliturgique/pentecote/pentecote05/016.htm
Oratorio
di San Nicola da Tolentino, Vicence
Saint Nicolas de Tolentino
Né vers 1245, mort en
1310, canonisé en 1446, fête au calendrier universel en 1585.
Leçons des Matines (avant
1960)
Quatrième leçon. Nicolas,
dit de Tolentino, à cause de son long séjour dans cette localité, naquit à
Saint-Ange, ville de la Marche d’Ancône, de parents recommandables par leur
piété. Ceux-ci, dans un voyage qu’ils avaient fait à Bari, pour accomplir un
vœu en vue d’obtenir des enfants, avaient reçu de saint Nicolas l’assurance
qu’il leur naîtrait un fils ; et ce fils leur ayant été accordé, ils lui
imposèrent le nom du Saint. Dès l’âge le plus tendre, l’enfant donna l’exemple
de vertus nombreuses, et surtout d’abstinence, car à peine âgé de sept ans, à
l’imitation du bienheureux Nicolas lui-même, il commença à jeûner plusieurs
fois la semaine, coutume qu’il conserva dans la suite, en se contentant de pain
et d’eau.
Cinquième leçon. N’étant
encore qu’adolescent, il s’enrôla dans la milice ecclésiastique et fut pourvu
d’un canonicat. Un jour qu’il assistait au sermon qu’un prédicateur de l’Ordre
des Ermites de saint Augustin faisait sur le mépris du monde, il en fut touché,
et sur-le-champ il entra dans cet Ordre. Il y observa les préceptes de la vie
religieuse dans leur plus rigoureuse exactitude, portant des habits grossiers,
domptant son corps par des disciplines et des chaînes de fer, s’abstenant de
viande et presque de toute nourriture, pratiquant dans un degré éminent la
charité, l’humilité, la pénitence et toutes les vertus.
Sixième leçon. Bien que Satan le fatiguât de ses ruses jusqu’à le frapper, l’assiduité de son application à la prière ne connut pas de défaillance. Toutes les nuits, durant les six derniers mois de son existence, il entendit des concerts angéliques dont la suavité lui faisait pressentir les joies du paradis et l’amenait à répéter fréquemment ces paroles de l’Apôtre : « Il me tarde de mourir pour être réuni au Christ. » Il prédit à ses frères le jour de sa mort, qui fut le quatre des ides de septembre. Des miracles nombreux, même après sa mort, rendirent son nom illustre. Ces miracles ayant été judiciairement et régulièrement constatés, le Pape Eugène IV le plaça au nombre des Saints.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/10-09-St-Nicolas-de-Tolentino
Statue
de saint Nicolas Tolentino à Prague.
Charles
Bridge St Nicholas Tolentino
Sousoší
Svatého Mikuláše Toletinského na Karlově mostě
Saint Nicolas de
Tolentino
Religieux
(† 1310)
La mère de ce Saint dût
sa naissance à un pèlerinage qu'elle fit à Saint-Nicolas-de-Myre. L'enfant
reçut au baptême, en reconnaissance, le nom de Nicolas. Son patron continua de
le protéger, et bientôt le petit Nicolas devint son émule dans la sainteté, jeûnant,
dès l'âge de sept ans, trois fois la semaine, et aimant les pauvres d'une
affection incroyable.
A onze ans, il fut reçu
dans l'Ordre des Ermites de Saint-Augustin, où il se fit admirer de tous par la
modestie de son maintien, sa parfaite obéissance, son humeur douce et toujours
égale, surtout sa chasteté, gardée par d'effrayantes mortifications. On eût dit
qu'il avait un corps de bronze. A quinze ans, il usait des chaînes, des
ceintures de fer et des cilices; il jeûnait quatre fois la semaine, mangeait
peu et des mets les plus grossiers, ne couchait que par terre ou sur une
paillasse.
On raconte plusieurs
visions d'âmes du Purgatoire qui lui devaient leur délivrance. Après avoir
édifié successivement plusieurs couvents, le fervent religieux est envoyé à
Tolentino, où il passe les trente dernières années de sa vie. Là il s'occupe à
catéchiser les ignorants, à prêcher la parole de Dieu, à confesser les
pécheurs; les coeurs les plus rebelles se rendent à ses exhortations, il
embrase les plus indifférents du feu de l'amour divin, il ébranle les plus
obstinés, sa douceur ramène les plus désespérés dans la voie du salut. Le salut
des autres ne lui fait pas négliger le sien. On ne saurait dire quand il
terminait son oraison; on le trouvait toujours absorbé en Dieu; il aimait
surtout à méditer les souffrances de Jésus-Christ.
Nicolas était la terreur
du démon, qui venait souvent troubler son oraison en imitant devant lui le cri
de tous les animaux, en ébranlant la charpente de la maison, et faisant trembler
sa cellule. Un jour l'esprit de ténèbres entra près de lui sous la forme d'un
oiseau énorme, qui éteignit, renversa et brisa la lampe par un mouvement de ses
ailes; Nicolas ramassa les morceaux et les rejoignit si merveilleusement, qu'il
ne parut pas trace de l'accident. Le démon alla jusqu'à le frapper et à le
laisser pour mort; le Saint demeura boiteux toute sa vie des coups qu'il avait
reçus. Il partageait avec les pauvres le pain qu'on lui donnait à ses repas,
et, un jour, son supérieur lui demandant ce qu'il portait: "Ce sont des
fleurs," dit-il, et il montra le pain changé en roses. Pendant les six
derniers mois de sa vie, les anges descendaient toutes les nuits dans sa
chambre et le réjouissaient de leurs chants.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_nicolas_de_tolentino.html
ACTIONS DE GRACE DES ÂMES
DU PURGATOIRE ENVERS LEUR LIBERATEUR
" Salvasti nos de affigentibus nos, et odientes nos confudisti."
" Vous nous avez délivrés de nos persécuteurs, et vous avez confondu ceux
qui nous haïssaient."
Ps. XIII, 8.
Des âmes que l'illustre Saint Nicolas de Tolentino avait délivrées par ses
Prières lui adressèrent les paroles du psaume que je viens de prendre pour
épigraphe.
Une des plus grandes
vertus de cet admirable serviteur de Dieu fut sa charité son dévouement pour
l'Église Souffrante.
Pour elle il jeûnait souvent au pain et à l'eau, il se donnait des disciplines cruelles, il se mettait autour des reins une chaîne de fer étroitement serrée.
Ce fut surtout lorsque l'obéissance l'eut forcé à se laisser ordonner Prêtre
qu'il témoigna cet empressement et ce zèle en offrant l'auguste Sacrifice.
Aussi les âmes qu'il soulageait par tant de suffrages lui apparurent-elles
plusieurs fois pour en réclamer de lui la continuation.
Il demeurait à
Vallimanèse près de Pise tout occupé de ses exercices spirituels lorsqu'un
samedi pendant la nuit comme il s'était retiré pour prendre un peu de repos, il
vit en songe une personne toute dolente qui le supplia de monter pour elle au
Saint autel la matinée suivante et aussi pour quelques autres âmes qui
souffraient d'une manière affreuse dans le Purgatoire.
Nicolas reconnaissait la voix mais ne pouvait se rappeler distinctement celui qui l'interpellait. Il lui demanda donc qui il était :
" Je suis, répondit l'apparition, l'âme de votre défunt ami le Frère
Pellegrino d'Osima, qui ai pu éviter, par la Divine Miséricorde, les châtiments
éternels dus à mes fautes, mais non pas l'expiation douloureuse qui leur est
réservée pour un temps.
Je viens, au nom de beaucoup d'âmes aussi malheureuses que moi, vous supplier de dire pour nous demain la sainte Messe, et nous espérons de là ou notre délivrance entière ou du moins un grand soulagement."
Le Saint lui répondit avec sa bonté accoutumée :
" Que le Seigneur daigne vous secourir par les mérites de son Sang, par
lequel il vous a rachetées ! Mais pour cette Messe de Requiem, je ne puis la
dire demain : c'est moi qui dois chanter au coeur la Messe du Couvent, et le
Dimanche il ne nous est pas permis de faire l'office des morts."
Alors l'âme soupirant et gémissant ajouta :
" Ah ! Venez avec moi, je vous en conjure pour l'amour de Dieu ; venez contempler nos souffrances, et vous ne me refuserez plus : vous êtes trop bon pour nous laisser dans de pareilles angoisses."
Il lui sembla qu'il était transporté dans une plaine immense ou il aperçut une grande multitude d'âmes de tout état de tout âge et de toute condition livrées à des tortures diverses et épouvantables du geste et de la voix elles imploraient tristement son assistance.
" Voilà, lui dit le Frère Pellegrino, la malheureuse situation de ceux qui
m'ont député auprès de vous.
Nous avons la confiance que Le Seigneur ne refuserait rien à vos sacrifices, et que sa Divine Miséricorde nous délivrerait."
Le serviteur de Dieu à ce spectacle trois fois lamentable ne pouvait contenir
son émotion. Il se mit aussitôt à genoux et pria avec grande ferveur pour tant
d'infortunés. Il eût voulu que ses larmes éteignissent le feu qui les
consumait.
Le matin venu, dès qu'il
fut réveillé, il courut chez le Prieur lui raconter en détail toute sa vision
et lui exposer la demande que le Frère Pellegrino lui avait faite d'une Messe
de Requiem ce jour-là même.
Le Père ne put l'entendre
sans partager sa vive émotion et, cédant à ce sentiment, il le dispensa non
seulement pour ce jour-là mais pour toute la semaine suivante de la Messe
conventuelle afin qu'il pût vaquer au soulagement des âmes qui paraissaient
l'avoir imploré.
Heureux de cette
permission Nicolas se rendit incontinent à la sacristie et Célébra avec une
extraordinaire ardeur.
De plus, il passa le jour et même la nuit à toutes sortes de bonnes oeuvres dans la même intention.
Macérations, jeûnes, disciplines, oraisons prolongées, l'auteur de sa vie
assure que le démon le troubla plusieurs fois visiblement dans ce saint
exercice, mais en vain.
Il continua ainsi toute
la semaine alors il revit l'âme du Frère Pellegrino, mais non plus dans son
état de douleur, dans ses flammes, dans sa tristesse.
Une robe blanche le
recouvrait il était environné d'une splendeur toute Céleste dans laquelle se
jouaient une quantité d'autres âmes aussi heureuses toutes ensemble lui
rendaient grâce et l'appelaient leur libérateur puis elles s'élevèrent au Ciel
en chantant : " Salvasti nos de affligentibus nos, et odientes nos
confudisti !"
SAINT NICOLAS DE
TOLENTINO
Premier autel adossé au
mur latéral sud, un tableau du célèbre Gottfried Locher, peint vers 1784 selon
les spécialistes. Un homme vêtu de la coule des Augustins, avec une étoile sur
le cœur, flotte entre terre et ciel. Sa main droite bénit une corbeille de
pains portée par des anges. Sa gauche porte un lys blanc. Un archange en habit
rouge distribue ce pain aux hommes. Appuyé sur son bâton, un vieillard essaye
d’attraper un de ces merveilleux morceaux. Un autre séraphin lance une ceinture
sacrée pour tirer des êtres des flammes du purgatoire. Au premier plan, une
femme assise porte sur sa robe bleue un petit enfant nu et mort. Elle aussi
attend un miracle. L’homme vêtu de la coule des Augustins, avec une étoile sur
le cœur s’appelle Nicolas de Tolentino. Il est le premier saint sorti de
l’ordre de Saint-Augustin. Il occupe la première place dans le cœur des moines
de cette congrégation comme saint François pour les franciscains ou saint
Dominique pour les dominicains. Sa vie est belle comme un concert de Mozart. Un
petit village près d’Ancône en Italie. Un couple gémit sur sa stérilité et fait
un pèlerinage à Bari auprès du grand saint Nicolas. Exaucé, il donne à leur
nouveau-né le prénom de Nicolas.
Très jeune, la vie
monastique attire le petit Nicolas. Après une vie de bohème religieuse,
celui-ci en 1279 s’installe au couvent de Tolentino chez les ermites de
Saint-Augustin. Là, pendant 30 ans, il mène une vie religieuse parfaite. Il
pratique le jeûne et l’abstinence, il exerce l’humilité et la charité. Dans ce
monastère de la petite ville, ce moine doux prêche l’évangile et illumine les
fidèles. Il est guéri d’une grave maladie en mangeant du pain trempé dans l’eau
sous le sourire de la Sainte Vierge. Parce qu’il a du cœur et de la générosité,
il applique aux autres ce remède merveilleux. Ce moine a une tendresse
particulière pour les âmes qui souffrent au purgatoire et célèbre des messes
pour leur délivrance. Avec lui, le pain se change en fleurs, des perdrix rôties
reprennent leur envol. Il meurt en odeur de sainteté après avoir assisté au
concert des anges en 1305.
A Avignon, le pape Jean
XXII ouvre son procès de canonisation en 1325. Exactement 664 personnes y
viennent témoigner, 371 dépositions sont retenues et 300 miracles sont
racontés. Ce procès de canonisation est réclamé par l’Ordre des Ermites de
Saint-Augustin, un ordre encore très jeune qui se cherche un saint patron et
une légitimité. Les Augustins se montrent plus fidèles à la papauté que leurs
rivaux les franciscains. Mais Nicolas de Tolentino sera proclamé saint seulement
en 1446. Pourquoi a-t-il fallu tant de temps? L’Eglise est secouée par une
véritable tempête. C’est le grand schisme d’Occident. Entre 1409 et 1417, trois
papes règnent en même temps. L’Eglise retrouve son unité le 11 novembre 1417 à
Constance où un Concile dépose l’antipape Jean XXIII et élit Martin V. Les
Augustins de l’Auge ont connu ce pape puisqu’il a passé à Fribourg en 1418. Son
successeur, Eugène IV est un moine augustin. Il achève l’unité de l’Eglise
encore mise à mal par le concile de Bâle. Une poignée de dissidents y nomment
le dernier des antipapes, un duc de Savoie, Félix qui se fait couronner dans la
cathédrale de Lausanne où il abdiquera aussi quelques années plus tard. Au
concile de Florence, il opère une union sans lendemain entre l’Eglise
catholique romaine et l’Eglise orthodoxe de Constantinople. A Rome, il achève
le procès de canonisation de Nicolas de Tolentino le 5 juin 1446 et le déclare
saint et fixe la date de sa fête au 10 septembre. Ainsi, Nicolas de Tolentino
est le premier saint de cet ordre. Un pape a dit que le plus beau miracle de
saint Nicolas de Tolentino est d’avoir reconstitué l’unité de l’Eglise. Il
apparaît comme un symbole de la renaissance spirituelle de l’Eglise après le
grand schisme.
Saint Nicolas de Tolentino
accomplit une pluie de miracles. Il guérit les malades et ressuscite les
enfants. Les fameux pains de saint Nicolas de Tolentino font des merveilles. En
1447, un incendie menace le palais Saint-Marc mais grâce au pain de saint
Nicolas, Venise est préservée. En signe de reconnaissance, la Ville construit
une chapelle en son honneur. A Gênes, une tempête furieuse menace de couler
tous les bateaux arrimés au port. L’archevêque de la Ville jette un pain et la
mer se calme aussitôt. En 1526, le feu ravage une ville du diocèse de Tolède en
Espagne. On y jette un pain et la catastrophe cesse. Les filles du Roi
d’Espagne enferment le pain rescapé dans un reliquaire. Ce pain miraculeux
guérit le prince grand électeur de Cologne encore mise à mal par le concile de Bâle.
Chaque 10 septembre, l’Auge fête saint Nicolas de Tolentino. Accompagnés par l’orgue, les moines et les fidèles chantent les litanies en son honneur :
« Saint Nicolas de Tolentino, priez pour nous
Honneur des ermites de Saint Augustin, priez pour nous
Diamant de la perfection religieuse...
Grand ami des anges...
Faiseur de grands miracles...
Avocat particulier pour les âmes du purgatoire...».
Puis l’officiant bénit
les pains. A la maison, le fidèle prend ce pain trempé dans l’eau. Mais avant,
il récite trois pater noster et ave maria. Il termine en récitant cette oraison
à Dieu, retrouvée dans un livre de la bibliothèque du couvent : «Nous vous
prions par l’intercession et mérites de votre grand ami saint Nicolas de
Tolentino que vous daigniez semblablement donner la même vertu à ce pain bénit
duquel nous usons au nom de votre fidèle serviteur Nicolas afin que nous
puissions obtenir votre sainte grâce et miséricorde, et être exempts en cette
vie de tous maux et périls, de la peste venimeuse, maladies et autres malheurs
et après cette vie des peines éternelles et du feu de l’enfer».
Cette tradition a duré
longtemps. En 1878, c’était le père Gachet, un boulanger de la Lenda qui avait
l’honneur de cuire au four ces minuscules brioches que les Augeois nommaient
les «torlentins».
Texte tiré de l'ouvrage
NICOULIN, Martin, "Invitation à la joie éternelle, L'église de l'Auge
et ses saints", Paroisse Saint-Maurice, 2016.
Saint Nicolas de
Tolentino
Saint Nicolas de Tolentino naquit après un pèlerinage que fit sa mère à Saint-Nicolas de Myre et c’est par reconnaissance qu’il fut appelé Nicolas.
A 11 ans, il entre dans l’ordre des Ermites de saint Augustin où il se fait remarquer par son obéissance et son humilité. Désireux de s’unir étroitement à son Maître Jésus, il jeûnait beaucoup, couchait par terre sur une méchante paillasse.
Il catéchisa les miséreux, confessa les pécheurs, convertit de nombreux pécheurs endurcis, chassa les démons. Il délivra par ses prières des âmes du purgatoire.
On prie saint Nicolas de Tolentino pour assister les chrétiens à l’agonie, demander la délivrance des âmes du purgatoire.
On l’invoque également pour obtenir la guérison de la gingivite.
INVOCATION
Seigneur, écoutez favorablement les humbles prières que nous vous adressons en
la fête de saint Nicolas de Tolentino, afin que, mettant notre confiance en
lui, nous soyons secourus par celui que votre miséricorde infinie nous a donné
pour intercesseur pendant notre vie et après notre mort. Ainsi soit-il.
Saint Nicolas de Tolentino, puissant intercesseur des âmes du Purgatoire, priez
pour ceux que nous aimons, et guérissez-nous.
ORAISON
Mon Dieu, animez-moi à expier mes offenses passées, à surmonter mes tentations
à l’avenir, à corriger les passions qui me dominent, et à pratiquer les vertus
qui me conviennent
Remplissez mon cœur de tendresse pour vos bontés, d’aversion pour mes défauts,
de zèle pour mon prochain, et de mépris pour le monde. Ainsi soit-il.
SOURCE : https://saint.retz.info/prieres-saintes/st-maur-a-st-ortaire/saint-nicolas-de-tolentino/
Alonso López de Herrera. The Miracle of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, début du XVIIe siècle, San Antonio Museum of Art.
Also
known as
Niccolò da Tolentino
Nicola da Tolentino
Nicolás de Tolentino
Patron of Holy Souls
Profile
His middle-aged parents,
Compagnonus de Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani, were childless until
a prayerful visit
to a shrine of Saint Nicholas
of Myra at Bari, Italy.
In gratitude, the couple named their son Nicholas.
Nicholas became an Augustinian friar
at age 18, and a student with Blessed Angelus
de Scarpetti. Monk at Recanati and Macerata in Italy. Ordained at
age 25. Canon of
Saint Saviour’s. There he received visions of angels reciting
the phrase “to Tolentino“;
he took this as a sign to move to that city in 1274,
and there he lived the rest of his life.
Worked as a peacemaker in
a city torn by civil war. Preached every
day, wonder-worker and healer,
and visited prisoners.
He always told those he helped, “Say nothing of this.” Received
visions, including images of Purgatory, which friends ascribed to his
lengthy fasts.
Nicholas had a great devotion to the recently dead, praying for
the souls in Purgatory as
he travelled around
his parish,
and often late into the night.
Once, when severely ill,
he had a vision of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Augustine
of Hippo and Monica.
They told him to eat a certain type of roll that had been dipped in water.
Cured, he began healing others
by administering bread over which he recited Marian prayers.
The rolls became known as Saint Nicholas Bread, and are still distributed
at his shrine.
Reported to have
resurrected over one hundred dead children,
including several who had drowned together.
Legend says that the devil once beat Nicholas with a stick; the stick was
displayed for years in the his church. A vegetarian, Nicholas was once served a
roasted fowl; he made the sign of the cross over the bird,
and it flew out a window. Nine passengers on ship going down at sea once asked
for the aid of Saint Nicholas;
he appeared in the sky, wearing the black Augustinian habit,
radiating golden light, holding a lily in
his left hand; with his right hand he quelled the storm. An apparition of
the saint once
saved the burning palace of the Doge of Venice by
throwing a piece of blessed bread
on the flames.
Born
1245 at
Sant’Angelo, March of Ancona, diocese of Fermo, Italy
10
September 1305 at Tolentino, Italy following
a long illness
relics re-discovered
at Tolentino in 1926
in previous times
his relics were
known exude blood when the Church was
in danger
5 June (Pentecost) 1446 by Pope Eugene
IV
over 300 miracles were
recognized by the Congregation
babies (reported
to have raised more than 100 children from
the dead)
in Italy
Cabanatuan, Iloilo, Philippines. diocese of
Guimbal, Iloilo, Philippines
Lambunao, Iloilo, Philippines
Mati, Philippines, diocese of
Tandag, Philippines, diocese of
Augustinian giving bread to
a sick person
Augustinian holding
a container of bread
Augustinian holding
a container of money
Augustinian holding
a lily
Augustinian holding crucifix garlanded
with lilies
Augustinian with
a star above
him
Augustinian with
a star on
his breast
basket with bread rolls
crucifix garlanded
with lilies
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Patron Saints for Interests, Emergencies and Everyday Needs,
by Thomas Craughwell
other
sites in english
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Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
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in italiano
Associazione Storico-Culturale S. Agostino
Basilica di San Nicola a Tolentino
Readings
The heavens are not pure
in the sight of Him Whom I serve; how then shall I, a sinful man, stand before
Him? – Saint Nicholas
MLA
Citation
“Saint Nicholas of
Tolentino“. CatholicSaints.Info. 20 April 2022. Web. 10 September 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-nicholas-of-tolentino/>
SOURCE https://catholicsaints.info/saint-nicholas-of-tolentino/
Saint
Nicholas of Tolentino Church, Iztapalapa, Federal District, Mexico
St. Nicholas of Tolentino
Born at Sant' Angelo,
near Fermo,
in the March
of Ancona, about 1246; d. 10 September, 1306. He is depicted in the
black habit of the Hermits
of St. Augustine — a star above him or on his breast, a lily, or
a crucifix garlanded with lilies, in his hand. Sometimes,
instead of the lily, he holds a vial filled with money or bread. His parents,
said to have been called Compagnonus de Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani (these
surnames may merely indicate their birth-places), were pious folk,
perhaps gentle born, living content with a small substance. Nicholas was
born in response to prayers,
his mother a model of holiness.
He excelled so much in his studies that even before they were over he was made
a canon of St. Saviour's church; but hearing a sermon by
a hermit
of St. Augustine upon the text: "Nolite diligere mundum, nec ea
quae sunt in mundo, quia mundus transit et concupiscentia ejus", he felt a
call to embrace the religious
life. He besought the hermit for
admittance into his order. His parents gave
a joyful consent. Even before his ordination he
was sent to different monasteries of
his order, at Recanati, Macerata etc.,
as a model of generous striving after perfection. He made his
profession before he was nineteen. After his ordination he
preached with wonderful success, notably at Tolentino,
where he spent his last thirty years and gave a discourse nearly every day.
Towards the end diseases tried his patience, but he kept up his mortifications almost
to the hour of death. He possessed an angelic meekness,
a guileless simplicity, and a tender love of virginity,
which he never stained, guarding it by prayer and
extraordinary mortifications.
He was canonized by Eugene
IV in 1446; his feast is
celebrated on 10 September. His tomb,
at Tolentino,
is held in veneration by the faithful.
Sources
Acta SS., Sept. III, 636;
BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, III (Baltimore), 440; HAGELE in Kirchenlex.,
s.v.
Garesché, Edward.
"St. Nicholas of Tolentino." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New
York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 10 Sept. 2016
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11065a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas M. Barrett. Dedicated to St.
Nicholas.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11065a.htm
September 10
St. Nicholas of
Tolentino, Confessor
His life was written by
several hands, principally by three pious and learned men of his Order, very
soon after his death; viz. Peter de Monte Rubiano in the Marca of
Ancona; 2ndly, by Henry of Urimaria; 3rdly, by Jordan de Saxonia. See also
Nævius, in his Eremus Augustiniana, p. 166; Brulius Historiæ Peruanæ ordinis
Eremitarum St. Augustini, l. 15; and Suysken, Act. SS. t. 3, Sept. p. 636
A.D. 1306.
THIS saint received his
surname from the town which was his fixed residence for the most considerable
part of his life, and in which he died. He was a native of St. Angelo, a town
near Fermo, in the Marca of Ancona, and was born about the year 1245. His
parents were of mean condition in the world, but rich in virtue, and he was
reputed the fruit of their prayers, and a devout pilgrimage to the shrine of
St. Nicholas of Bari, in which his mother especially, who was then stricken in
years, had earnestly begged of God a son who should faithfully serve him. At
his baptism he received the name of his patron, and appeared by his towardly
dispositions from his infancy to be prevented by an extraordinary share of
divine grace. In his childhood he spent whole hours together at his prayers
with wonderful application of his mind to God, and he heard the divine word
with the utmost eagerness, and with a modesty which charmed all who saw him. He
had a tender love for the poor, and used to conduct home those that he met, in
order to divide with them whatever he had for his own subsistence. From his
infancy he made it a cardinal maxim to renounce all superfluities, practised
great mortifications, and from his tender age contracted a habit of fasting
three days a week, namely, on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays; to which,
when he was grown up, he added Mondays, allowing himself on these days only one
refection, and that of bread and water. From his very infancy he seemed exempt
from the weaknesses and passions to which children are generally liable, his
greatest pleasure was in reading good books, in his devotions, and in pious
conversation, and his heart was always in the church. His parents neglected
nothing that was in their power to improve his genius and happy dispositions.
In his studies, as his parts were quick, apprehensions lively, and his memory
and judgment strong, so his progress was rapid.
He was yet a young
student when, for his extraordinary merit, he was preferred to a canonry in our
Saviour’s church. This situation was extremely agreeable to his inclination, as
by it he was always employed in the divine service. But he aspired to a state
which would allow him to consecrate his whole time and thoughts directly to
God, without interruptions or avocations. Whilst he was in this disposition, a
sermon preached by an Austin friar or hermit, on the vanity of the world,
determined him to take a resolution absolutely to quit the world, and to
embrace the Order of that holy preacher. This he executed without loss of time,
entering himself a religious man in the convent of that Order of Tolentino, a
small town in the ecclesiastical state. He went through his novitiate under the
direction of the preacher himself, and made his profession before he had
completed the eighteenth year of his age. His humility made him look on all his
brethren as so many superiors, and he studied in all things as much as possible
to do the will of every one, that he might the more perfectly learn to deny his
own, and the love of humiliations gave him particular affection for the meanest
and most mortifying employments in the house, and he embraced whatever was most
painful and abject with the greatest pleasure. Such was the unalterable
sweetness of his temper, and the equality of his mind, that he never betrayed
the least impatience or irregularity of humour: a mark of the constant
tranquillity of his soul, and the perfect victory which he had gained over
himself. His extraordinary fasts and austerities showed that he looked on his
body as a constant enemy to his soul. The disciplines and iron girdles with
which he afflicted it, are shown to this day in his convent. His ordinary food
was only coarse bread with pulse or herbs; his bed was the bare floor, with a
stone for his pillow. In obedience to his general, he once in time of sickness
took a mouthful of flesh-meat; but immediately begged with tears, that since he
had satisfied his precept, he might be allowed not to eat any more; to which
the general assented.
He was sent successively
to several convents of his Order at Recanati, Macerata, and others; in that of
Cingole he was ordained priest by the bishop of Osimo. From which time, if he
seemed an angel in his other actions, he appeared like a seraph at the altar;
so wonderfully did the divine fire which burned in his breast manifest itself
in his countenance, and sweet tears flowed in streams from his eyes. Devout
persons strove every day to assist at his mass as at a sacrifice offered by the
hands of a saint. In the secret communications which passed between his pure
soul and God in contemplation, especially after he had been employed at the
altar or in the confessional, he seemed already to enjoy a kind of anticipation
of the delights of heaven. The last thirty years of his life he resided at
Tolentino, and his zeal for the salvation of souls, produced there wonderful
fruit. He preached almost every day, and his sermons were always signalized by
remarkable conversions. His exhortations, whether in the confessional or in
giving catechism, were always such as reached to the heart, and left lasting
salutary impressions on those who heard him. What time could be spared from those
charitable functions, he spent in prayer and contemplation. He was favoured
with visions, and wrought several miraculous cures. For the exercise of his
virtue he was long afflicted with divers painful distempers. His holy death
happened on September the 10th, in 1306, and he was canonized by Eugenius IV.
in 1446. His body was buried in the church of his convent at Tolentino, in a
chapel in which he used to say mass, and his tomb there is held in veneration.
The saints, how much
soever they had subdued their passions, and strengthened themselves in habits
of all virtues, always watched with extraordinary vigilance over all their
words and actions, and every motion of their hearts, knowing this life to be a
state of perpetual warfare and danger. To prevent all attacks from the enemy,
it is the duty of a Christian to be always provided, and in time of peace to
expect his return: this disposition will contribute to keep him at a distance;
and a neglect of it will certainly invite him to take advantage of our supine
sloth, and, by subtle stratagems, or by open force, easily to overthrow us at
unawares. By frequent self-examination, the practice of self-denial, the
dispositions of humble fear and compunction, and by watchfulness against all
occasions of danger, we must continually be armed, and ready to repulse him: if
we leave the avenues of our soul open or unguarded, and trust him within our
gates, he enters smoothly, but, like a cancer, brings death.
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume IX: September. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/9/101.html
Chiesa
di San Nicola da Tolentino, Napoli,
ubicato
ai Gradini San Nicola da Tolentino, presso corso Vittorio Emanuele,
St Nicholas of Tolentino
(1245-1305)
Nicholas was born to poor
parents who lived not far from Tolentine and who, until his birth, had been
childless. They went as pilgrims to Bari, in southern Italy, to pray at the
shrine of St Nicholas to be blessed with a child. Shortly after their return home,
to their great joy, a son was born to whom they gave the name Nicholas.
It seems that Nicholas
felt called to the religious life from his earliest years. Having met the Prior
of the Augustinian community in Tolentine, he applied to be accepted in the
local monastery as a novice. He passed through the years of formation and study
and in the year 1270 he was ordained a priest.
Shortly after his
ordination, he had a vivid dream in which a deceased fellow Augustinian
appeared to him and begged his help: “I am suffering in these flames, by which
the good God, accepting my repentance, is mercifully purifying me. I beg you to
celebrate a Mass of the Dead for me, so that I may be freed from my torments”.
Fr. Nicholas spent the
night in prayer and next day he asked the Prior for permission to offer his
Mass for a week on behalf of the suffering souls in Purgatory. He did so and
soon afterwards the same priest appeared to him again and assured him that he
and many other souls had been freed from Purgatory.
This incident convinced
Nicholas of the need to pray incessantly for the souls in Purgatory, and to
offer the sacrifice of the Mass for this purpose. It remained the outstanding
characteristic of his spirituality. In 1275 he was appointed to the community
in Tolentine and he remained there until his death on Sept. 10th 1305.
He was much sought after
as a confessor and spiritual director but it was as an advocate for the souls
in Purgatory that he is now remembered, and is invoked as their patron. He was
the first Augustinian to be canonised as a saint , in 1446, and 700 years after
his death his remains are still venerated in the basilica dedicated in his
honour in Tolentine. To very many he is revered as the Patron of the Holy
Souls.
Devotion to St. Nicholas
of Tolentine.
He is invoked mainly as
an advocate for the souls in Purgatory, especially during Lent and during the
month of November. In many Augustinian churches, there are weekly devotions to
St Nicholas on behalf of the suffering souls. The whole church dedicates itself
to prayer on their behalf on 2nd November each year, the Commemoration of
all the faithful departed, and that day has special significance for the
devotees of St Nicholas of Tolentine.
.jpg)
Chiesa di San Nicola da Tolentino, Venise. Façade sur le Campo dei Tolentini.
Blessing of the Bread of
St. Nicholas of Tolentine
When St Nicholas was very
ill, it is related in the account of his life that the Blessed Virgin appeared
to him in a vision and told him to procure a little bread and eat it moistened
with water, and he would be cured. The saint did so and he was instantly
restored to health. From this story the blessed bread of St Nicholas had its
origin.
During the life of St
Nicholas he too dipped bread in water to cure the sick of various illnesses. In
faith we ask for Nicholas’ intercession for our illnesses and those of our
loved ones.
Blessing the Bread of St.
Nicholas
Lord Jesus Christ, you multiplied the loaves to feed a hungry throng. We ask you to bless + this bread. May it become spiritual nourishment for those who eat it, in honour of St Nicholas of Tolentine, and be beneficial to the health of all who place their trust in you, who live and reign for ever and ever.
Amen
.jpg)
Église
Saint Nicolas de Tolentino, Rome (quartier de Trevi), Façade
Intercessions
Aided by the Prayers of
St Nicholas, let us pray to Christ who gives us the hope that our mortal bodies
will become like his in glory.
1.Christ, Son of the
living God, you raised your friend Lazarus from the dead: grant life and glory
to the faithful departed, redeemed by your precious blood.
2.Compassionate Saviour,
you wiped away all tears when you gave back to the widow of Naim her only son:
comfort those who mourn because the one they love has died.
3. Lord our God, in St
Nicholas you have given us an example of faith, hope and love: send into our
hearts your Holy Spirit with his many gifts.
4.Father of holiness, you
have given us this new day, on which we celebrate the memory of St Nicholas:
may we use it in contemplating his goodness, and in working like him to do your
will, in the circumstances of our daily lives.
5. Father, your Son has
promised a hundredfold and eternal life to those who leave all things and
follow him: may we always be true to our baptism (and our religious vows), and
show forth the living power of the Gospel.
6. Lord, you worked
miracles of healing and comfort at the hands of St Nicholas: hear all who cry
to you in distress, in sickness and in every danger of soul and body, and save
them in your mercy.
Almighty God, your glory
shone upon the Church through the holiness and miracles of St Nicholas of
Tolentine. In answer to his prayers keep your holy people in peace and unity.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
SOURCE : http://www.staugustinescork.ie/augustiniandevotions/St_Nicholas_of_Tolentino
_(Attributed_to)_-_Saint_Nicholas_of_Tolentino.jpg)
Jan van Cleve (III), San Nicola da
Tolentino, vers 1700, 60 X 80, Bruxelles
Weninger’s
Lives of the Saints – Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor
Article
Saint Nicholas was born
at Saint Angelo in the March of Ancona, but is called Nicholas of Tolentino,
from having resided during the last thirty years of his life at the latter
place. His parents, Campanus and Amata, were long without issue, and desiring
to be blessed with a child, they made a pilgrimage to Bari, to the shrine of
the holy bishop Saint Nicholas. Having most fervently performed their
devotions, they were favored with an apparition of the Saint, who told them that
they would have a son, whom they should call Nicholas, and who would become a
man of eminent virtue. The truth of this prediction was soon made known. Amata
gave birth to a son, who, in accordance with the command of the Saint, was
named Nicholas. It was a striking fact, that from his early childhood, Nicholas
possessed, in an eminent degree, the spirit of prayer, and when, as is the
habit of children, he shed tears, nothing could pacify him more easily than to
be told that they would carry him to church. When there he was always quiet,
and as he became older, he showed a reverence that was truly angelical. He
never spoke a word while in the house of God; never looked curiously about. In
his whole conduct there was never seen any childishness or frivolity.
When he was old enough to
begin his studies, he displayed remarkable eagerness for gaining knowledge, and
made great progress: in consequence of which, he was, when yet quite young,
admitted among the Canons of the church of Saint Salvator. But one day, hearing
a sermon on the words of the Apostle: “Do not love the world, or what is in the
world,” delivered by an Augustinian hermit, he perceived an inner desire to
leave all that is temporal, and serve God more perfectly in a religious state.
Hence he went, immediately after the sermon, to the superior of the above-named
Order, and requested to be received as a novice. His request was granted; and
fulfilling the prophecy of Saint Nicholas, he gave, already in the year of his
probation, manifestations of truly eminent virtues, which caused him to be
allowed to make his profession earlier than was usual. His constant
mortification excited the admiration of all with whom he came in contact. He
had heard, when only seven years of age, that his holy patron, Saint Nicholas,
had, when an infant, abstained every Wednesday and Friday, from his mother’s
breast, and had begun immediately to pass the same two days without any food.
To these two fast-days, he, in the course of time, added two more. During
thirty years, he never touched either flesh or fish; he even abstained from
eggs, milk, and fruit, contenting himself with bread, vegetables and water.
Even when seriously sick, he deviated not from this austerity. Once when the
physicians prescribed meat for him, and the General of the Order commanded him
to follow their advice, he obeyed, but having taken a little, he begged to be
excused from eating more, saying that he would regain strength without it,
which did not fail to happen. Besides these continual fasts, the holy man
chastised his innocent body in various ways. He constantly wore a hair-shirt,
and scourged himself every night with an iron chain. He took a short rest at
night on the bare floor, and never allowed his body the slightest recreation.
One day, when some one told him not to be too severe upon himself, he said: “I
have not entered the religious state to indulge in my own comfort.” The Evil
One, endeavored vainly to disturb the pious zeal of the servant of God, by
terrible visions and cruel ill-treatment; but Nicholas adhered faithfully to
the path he had selected. His solicitude for the salvation of souls was
indefatigable, and he reformed a great many by his sermons and private
discourses. To visit the sick and prisoners and to comfort and assist them, was
his greatest pleasure. Not less deep was his compassion for the souls in
purgatory, and as he offered daily his prayers, his penances and holy Mass for
them, he released a great many from their suffering. To Mary, the divine
Mother, he was most fervently devoted from his early childhood, and therefore,
he received many and great favors from her. Once, when suffering from a severe
fever, he thought that his last hour had arrived, and he was overcome with fear
while meditating on the judgments of the Almighty. He appealed to his beloved
mother, the Blessed Virgin, who deigned to appear to him, telling him to* put
aside all fear and be hopeful. She, at the same time, blessed a crust of bread
that was lying beside him, and told him to eat of it, which he had no sooner
done, than the fever left him. This is the origin of the so-called Tolentine
bread, which is blessed on the feast of this Saint, and is often very
beneficial to the sick. He himself wrought many miracles in favor of the sick
and poor, as may be seen in his more circumstantial biography.
We will only add a few
lines about his happy death, the hour of which God had revealed to him, but
which was preceded by a painful sickness that lasted six months. During this
time, he derived an indescribable consolation from heavenly music which he
heard during the night or towards morning. Several times this was heard also by
those v/ho were with him. He received the Holy Sacraments with wonderful
devotion, shedding many tears. The crucifix, which enclosed a particle of the
wood of the holy Cross, he kissed most fervently, praying to the Almighty to
assist him in ‘his last combat, and to guard him from all danger by the power
of the holy Cross. Besides this, his heart was filled with the desire to behold
God in heaven, whom he had loved above everything on earth. Hence he called
aloud several times: “Oh! that I might be dissolved and be with Christ!”
Shortly before he expired, a holy joy was seen on his countenance, and when
asked the cause of it, he replied: “Our Lord, Jesus Christ, leaning upon His
beloved mother and Saint Augustine, calls me to Him with these words: “Come,
thou pious and faithful servant! enter into the joys of thy Lord!” Having said
this, he fixed his eyes upon the crucifix, saying: “Lord, into thy hands I
commend my spirit,” and expired. He is represented with a lily in his hand and
a star on his breast. The lily represents the angelic purity and innocence
which he kept inviolate; the star, the holy life of the great servant of the
Almighty. Saint Nicholas was, during his life, a bright star in the church of
God, on account of his many and great virtues. His tomb shines yet, in our
days, with a divine light, on account of the many and great miracles with which
God there honors His faithful servant.
Basilica
di San Nicola da Tolentino, Tolentino, Façade
Practical Considerations
• Meditation on the
words: “Do not love the world, or what is in the world, and the sermon on the
vanities of the world, drew Nicholas from all temporal things and led him to
the path of holiness. If you also considered the vanity of temporal honors, riches
and pleasures, you would not seek them so eagerly, nor be so foolishly devoted
to them. Reflect within yourself what all that seems great in the world, really
is and how long it lasts. “Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity,” said he who
had experienced it, Solomon the wise, after he had partaken of all the joys and
good things of this world. He found in them only vanity and vexation of spirit,
and saw that nothing is stable on this earth. All pleasures, honors and riches
vanish, and often so quickly, that they are already gone when we think we are
just beginning to enjoy them. And what do they leave? What do they bestow upon
man? How much happier than before is he after partaking of them? Truly, not in
the least. What they leave behind, what they bestow upon man, is nothing but
anxiety of conscience, sadness of heart, and a just fear of divine punishment.
“Mourning takes hold of the end of joy,” says the Holy Ghost. And what becomes
of the lovers of the world and worldly vanities? Saint Bernard writes: “Tell
me, where are the lovers of the world, who not long ago, were among us? What
remains of them but dust, ashes and worms? Consider what they are now and what
they were. They were men like you; they eat, drank and enjoyed themselves, and
were precipitated, in one moment, into the depths of hell!” Is it possible that
you believe this, and yet can love the world, and be a slave to the desires of
the flesh? If you desire joys and possessions, strive to gain those which are
everlasting.
MLA
Citation
Father Francis Xavier
Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor”. Lives of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info.
4 May 2018. Web. 10 September 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-nicholas-of-tolentino-confessor/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-nicholas-of-tolentino-confessor/
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Nicholas of Tolentino
Born in answer to the
prayer of a holy mother, and vowed before his birth to the service of God,
Nicholas never lost his baptismal innocence. His austerities were conspicuous
even in the austere Order – the Hermits of Saint Augustine – to which he
belonged, and to the remonstrances which were made by his superiors, he only
replied, “How can I be said to fast, while every morning at the altar I receive
my God?” He conceived an ardent charity for the Holy Souls, so near and yet so
far from their Saviour; and often after his Mass, it was revealed to him that
the souls for whom he had offered the Holy Sacrifice had been admitted to the
presence of God. Amidst his loving labors for God and man, he was haunted by
fear of his own sinfulness. “The heavens,” said he, “are not pure in the sight
of Him whom I serve; how then shall I, a sinful man, stand before Him?” As he
pondered on these things, Mary, the Queen of all Saints, appeared before him.
“Fear not, Nicholas,” she said, “all is well with you: my Son bears you in His
Heart, and I am your protection.” Then his soul was at rest; and he heard, we
are told, the songs which the angels sing in the presence of their Lord. He
died September 10th, 1310.
Reflection – Would you
die the death of the just? There is only one way to secure the fulfilment of
your wish. Live the life of the just. For it is impossible that one who has
been faithful to God in life should make a bad or an unhappy end.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-nicholas-of-tolentino/
Le Pérugin. Saint Nicolas de Tolentino, 1507, 79 x
62,
Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
San Nicola da Tolentino Sacerdote
Castel Sant’Angelo (ora
Sant’Angelo in Pontano, Macerata), 1245 - Tolentino (Macerata), 10 settembre
1305
Nacque nel 1245 a Castel
Sant'Angelo in Pontano nella diocesi di Fermo. A 14 anni entrò fra gli
eremitani di sant'Agostino di Castel Sant'Angelo come oblato, cioè ancora senza
obblighi e voti. Più tardi entrò nell'ordine e nel 1274 venne ordinato
sacerdote a Cingoli. La comunità agostiniana di Tolentino diventò la sua «casa
madre» e suo campo di lavoro il territorio marchigiano con i vari conventi
dell'Ordine, che lo accoglievano nell'itinerario di predicatore. Dedicava buona
parte della sua giornata a lunghe preghiere e digiuni. Un asceta che diffondeva
sorriso, un penitente che metteva allegria. Lo sentivano predicare, lo
ascoltavano in confessione o negli incontri occasionali, ed era sempre così:
veniva da otto-dieci ore di preghiera, dal digiuno a pane e acqua, ma aveva
parole che spargevano sorriso. Molti venivano da lontano a confessargli ogni
sorta di misfatti, e andavano via arricchiti dalla sua fiducia gioiosa. Sempre
accompagnato da voci di miracoli, nel 1275 si stabilì a Tolentino dove resterà
fino alla morte il 10 settembre 1305. (Avvenire)
Etimologia: Nicola =
vincidore del popolo, dal greco
Emblema: Cesto di pane,
Pane, Stella
Martirologio Romano: A
Tolentino nelle Marche, san Nicola, sacerdote dell’Ordine degli Eremiti di
Sant’Agostino, che, dedito a una severa astinenza e assiduo nella preghiera, fu
severo con se stesso, ma clemente con gli altri, e spesso imponeva a sé le penitenze
altrui.
Per il patronato della
maternità, accanto alla Madre della Madonna, può ben figurare quel benevolo
intercessore che è San Nicola da Tolentino.
È pur vero che il
ventaglio di ausilio miracoloso attribuito a San Nicola dalla vastissima ancor
oggi devozione popolare è molto ampio: dalle malattie alle ingiustizie, dalla
tirannia ai danni patrimoniali, dagli incendi alla liberazione delle anime
purganti. Ma l’intercessione nella maternità, specialmente se in età avanzata,
ha una propria ragione particolare.
Si era a metà
del XIII secolo ed i coniugi Compagnone dei Guarinti e Amata dei Gaidani
stavano invecchiando ed erano sull’orlo della disperazione per mancanza di
prole. Abitavano a Castel Sant’Angelo, oggi Sant’Angelo in Pontano nella provincia
di Macerata; vivevano in buone condizioni economiche, per cui un figlio poteva
anche significare il passaggio delle eredità materiali. In quei tempi il
mancato arrivo di un bimbo veniva sempre imputato alla donna, cosicché la
lacuna stava nella impossibile maternità e non tanto in disfunzioni legate alla
paternità. In tale ottica venivano ricercati i rimedi più o meno efficaci e
magari anche qualche intervento del sortilegio.
Da cristiana
credente la coppia di Castel Sant’Angelo ricorreva con sempre maggiore
frequenza alla preghiera. Ad un certo momento si ricordarono del santo dei doni
per eccellenza: con preghiere e lacrime supplicarono in effetti a lungo San
Nicola di Bari. E nel 1245 nacque il tanto desiderato figlio che, per
gratitudine, venne battezzato con quel nome. L’infanzia e la fanciullezza
furono tranquilli, manifestando egli tuttavia una naturale inclinazione alla
preghiera ed a una rigorosa osservanza dei propri doveri.
Così strutturato,
Nicola avvicinò perciò gli agostiniani della città natale a dodici anni e fu
novizio nel 1260. Compì poi gli studi necessari per il sacerdozio, ottenendo
l’ordinazione a Cingoli, sempre non lontano da Macerata, nel 1269. Svolse in
varie località l’apostolato affidatogli, finché nel 1275 si ritirò, forse per
ragioni di salute, nell’eremo agostiniano di Tolentino. Qui mori trent’anni più
tardi il 10 settembre 1305, dopo avere svolto l’apostolato del confessionale e
dell’assistenza ai poveri ed avere vissuto in umiltà e penitenza.
In seguito alla definitiva canonizzazione nel 1446 il suo culto si diffuse in tutta Italia, in molti altri Paesi d’Europa e poi nelle Americhe, in parte anche per il graduale affermarsi dell’Ordine agostiniano. Già però Tolentino gli aveva costruito una basilica, ancora attualmente meta di pellegrinaggi e ricca di opere d’arte. I suoi resti mortali sono in gran parte custoditi nella cripta, tranne le “Sante Braccia” staccatesi e sanguinanti quarant’anni dopo la morte del santo. La Chiesa ricorda liturgicamente San Nicola da Tolentino il 10 settembre, il suo dies natalis.
Autore: Mario Benatti
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/34600
 |
Saint Nicolas de Tolentino, Taxco, Guerrero; Mexico
NICOLA da Tolentino,
santo
di Giovanna Casagrande -
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 78 (2013)
NICOLA da Tolentino,
santo. – Figlio di Compagnone dei Guarutti o Guarinti e di Amata dei Guidiani o
Gaidani, di media condizione sociale, nacque a Castel Sant’Angelo, oggi Sant’Angelo
in Pontano (Macerata), nel 1245. Fu chiamato Nicola in omaggio a s. Nicola di
Bari, la cui intercessione, secondo i genitori, sarebbe stata decisiva per il
suo concepimento.
L’ascolto di una predica
di frate Reginaldo a Sant’Angelo (1259 circa) mosse il giovane Nicola, dopo
aver frequentato la scuola parrocchiale e poi quella della prioria di S.
Salvatore, a entrare nell’Ordine degli Eremiti. Fu novizio forse a San Ginesio.
Poiché predicava e confessava doveva aver acquistato una certa preparazione già
prima di essere ordinato sacerdote, ciò che avvenne a Cingoli da parte del
vescovo Benvenuto Scotivoli (1264-88) probabilmente nei primi anni Settanta del
’200. Prima della definitiva conventualità a Tolentino, fu presente in altre
località delle Marche: Valmanente (Pesaro), Recanati, Fermo, Montegiorgio,
Montolmo (Corridonia), Macerata, Treia, Cingoli, Piaggiolino (Fano); a
Sant’Elpidio fu maestro di noviziato; a San Ginesio si recò in occasione di un
capitolo. Stette a Tolentino a partire dal 1275 per trent’anni, conducendo
vita da perfetto religioso, in una quotidianità pervasa di rigore e di virtù.
Morì a Tolentino il 10
settembre 1305.
La ricostruzione del
percorso biografico e della figura religiosa e spirituale di Nicola poggia su
tre fonti scritte coeve, di carattere prettamente agiografico, mentre solo un
atto notarile del 1294 menziona un frate Nicola presente nel convento di
Tolentino.
La prima fonte è
la Historia Beati Nicolai de Tolentinoordinis Heremitarum Sancti
Augustini, compilata tra il 1325 e il 1326 da Pietro da Monterubbiano,
qualificato lettore. Questi compare nel gruppo di frati del convento
tolentinate che promossero il processo di canonizzazione e avrebbe dovuto
apportare anche la sua testimonianza, che invece non risulta prodotta.
La Historia, trasmessa da 14 testimoni, dei quali si è servito Francesco
Santi per l’edizione critica apparsa nel 2007, si articola in 18 capitoli:
1-3. nascita, fanciullezza, giovinezza; 4. ingresso nell’ordine e professione;
5. soggiorno come sacerdote a Valmanente (Pesaro) e a Recanati; 6.
trasferimento da Fermo a Tolentino, dopo la tentazione di lasciare
l’ordine; 7. permanenza per trent’anni a Tolentino, praticando rigorosa
ascesi; 8. pratiche penitenziali e assalti del demonio; 9. opere di pietà;
sogno dell’astro splendente e apparizione della stella; 10. miracoli in vita;
11. infermità; 12. devoto trapasso; 13. raccordo tra la narrazione della vita e
i miracoli dopo la morte; 14. miracoli relativi alla vista; 15. guarigioni di
paralitici e zoppi; 16. guarigioni di sordi e di muti; 17. resurrezioni; 18.
salvataggi di prigionieri e naufraghi. La Historia converge con gli
atti del Processo, ma apporta anche contributi propri quali la proposta
del cugino di lasciare l’Ordine degli eremiti per una soluzione religiosa meno
difficile (cap. 6); la liberazione delle anime dal purgatorio e di Gentile, suo
fratello, dall’inferno (cap. 5); la visione della stella (cap. 9).
La seconda fonte è
costituita dagli atti del processo di canonizzazione, indetto da Giovanni XXII
con la bolla Pater luminum et misericordiarum del 23 maggio 1325,
presentata da frate Pietro da Castello, priore provinciale della Marca
anconetana, e da frate Simone da Montecchio (Treia), priore del convento di
Tolentino, ai vescovi Federico di Senigallia e Tommaso di Cesena il giorno 7
luglio del medesimo anno nel palazzo del Comune di Macerata. La lettera
pontificia era rivolta anche all’abate del monastero di S. Pietro di Perugia,
che però rinunciò. Il 20 luglio i due presuli diedero inizio alla prassi
processuale. Il 23 luglio si presentò davanti a loro frate Tommaso da
Fermo esibendo l’atto con cui era stato nominato procuratore dal capitolo
dei frati del convento di Tolentino; nell’atto di procura comparivano 20 nomi
di frati, il primo dei quali risultava Pietro da Monterubbiano. Pubblicato in
edizione critica nel 1984, il testo costituisce uno dei non molti processi
d’età medievale integralmente conservati. I 22 articuli interrogatorii,
forse redatti dallo stesso Pietro da Monterubbiano, vertono: 1. sui miracoli
prima e dopo la morte; 2. sulla nascita; 3. sulla perfetta fede cattolica dei
genitori; 4. sul comportamento cristiano tenuto da Nicola; 5. sulla grazia
ottenuta dai genitori che, desiderosi di avere prole, si rivolsero a s. Nicola
di Bari; 6-9. sul comportamento tenuto da Nicola in età puerile; 10. sul
suo ingresso nell’Ordine degli eremiti di S. Agostino; 11-21. sul suo
comportamento in religione; 22. sulle sue opere di carità. Enunciati gli
articoli di interrogazione, si avviò la prassi processuale con le citazioni dei
testimoni e i loro giuramenti. Il processo si svolse in tempi rapidi,
concentrato nei mesi tra luglio e settembre ed ebbe luogo a Macerata,
Tolentino, San Ginesio, Camerino, San Severino. Le testimonianze furono 371 (di
196 uomini e 175 donne), di cui 64 di appartenenti al clero: due vescovi
(Pietro Mulucci di Macerata; Berardo da Varano di Camerino); 23 eremiti di S.
Agostino; 18 del clero diocesano (tra cui 6 canonici); 12 del clero regolare
(tra cui 4 abati); 9 suore (le cistercensi del monastero di S. Lucia di San
Ginesio). I testimoni si possono suddividere in due grandi raggruppamenti: il
primo comprendeva coloro che conobbero personalmente il santo e quindi erano in
grado di offrire informazioni dirette sulle sue virtù e sulla sua
configurazione di uomo, di asceta, di apostolo, di taumaturgo; il secondo
raccoglieva coloro che invece non lo conobbero, ma riferirono ex
auditu e sovente deposero circa i miracoli post mortem.
Il Processo raccoglie le attestazioni di ben 300 tra miracoli e
prodigi operati dal santo in vita e dopo la morte: quelli in vita diretti a
soccorrere le umane miserie, in umile atteggiamento di intercessione presso
Dio; quelli dopo la morte ottenuti per le fiduciose preghiere rivolte a Dio dai
suoi devoti. Promotori del processo furono l’Ordine, giovane in rapporto a
francescani e domenicani, in fase di espansione nella prima metà del ’300; il
rettore della Marca di Ancona, Amelio di Lautrec, che si trovò a governarla in
tempi di forti e violente tensioni tra guelfi e ghibellini; centri come
Tolentino, Camerino, Macerata rimasti di parte guelfa così come di parte guelfa
furono alcuni testimoni. Ciò ha indotto a individuare
nel Processo una fisionomia guelfa attorno a una figura di mite e
pacifico frate e sacerdote, taumaturgo.
Il Processo fu
presentato in concistoro il 5 dicembre 1326 e dal pontefice assegnato a una
commissione di tre cardinali (Vitale du Four, Ganzelino Ioannis de Ossa,
Giacomo Stefaneschi; Vitale fu poi sostituito da Guglielmo Godin). Fu così
redatto un Compendio articolato in tre parti: 1. sintesi della vita;
2. miracoli; 3. devozione popolare. Questo Compendio, di cui si hanno
cinque testimoni e si dispone ora dell’edizione critica apparsa nel 2002, fu
consegnato al pontefice nel 1328.
Alle fonti scritte si può
affiancare il ciclo del celebre Cappellone, nella basilica di Tolentino, la cui
stesura pittorica si riconduce ai primi decenni del ’300 e si assegna alla
bottega di Pietro da Rimini. Nelle vele sono raffigurati i quattro Evangelisti
e i quattro Dottori della Chiesa; nelle lunette storie della Vergine; nella
fascia mediana storie di Cristo; nella fascia inferiore 13 episodi della vita
di Nicola che in parte trovano riscontro nel Processo e in parte
nella biografia di Pietro da Monterubbiano. Per quanto si possa discutere sul
programma della composizione narrativo-pittorica e sul suo significato
ecclesiologico, certo è che la vita di Nicola è inserita nel quadro della
dottrina della salvezza da realizzare attraverso il suo essere religioso e
sacerdote e, ovviamente, l’intento è quello di trasmettere la nozione della
santità di Nicola dalla nascita, avvenuta per intervento miracoloso, al sereno
trapasso (simile alla dormitio Virginis) con l’animula accolta
da Cristo, dalla Vergine e da s. Agostino passando per la raffigurazione di
alcuni miracoli di particolare effetto e di significato cristomimetico.
Nonostante la rapidità
dei tempi del processo, Giovanni XXII non procedette alla canonizzazione. Le
tensioni con l’impero, lo scisma (con l’antipapa Niccolò V), i fermenti
ideologici, politici e dottrinali non costituivano il clima migliore per
procedere a una solenne canonizzazione (lo stesso avvenne anche nel caso di
Chiara da Montefalco). L’Ordine degli eremiti di S. Agostino, però, mirò
costantemente a tale obbiettivo. Nella seconda metà del ’300 la chiesa di S.
Agostino di Tolentino venne chiamata chiesa di S. Nicola; dopo il 1355
la Historia di Pietro da Monterubbiano fu volgarizzata da Remigio da
Firenze; il 13 aprile 1357 Innocenzo VI con la bolla Quae ad divini
nominis, indirizzata al card. Egidio d’Albornoz, ordinò di riprendere le
indagini dietro richiesta del priore dell’Ordine. Bonifacio IX con la
bolla Splendor paternae gloriae del 1389-90 favorì il culto e poi con
la Licet is de cuius del 1° marzo 1400 concesse indulgenza simile a
quella della Porziuncola a chi avesse visitato la tomba e la chiesa di S.
Nicola. Questi documenti provano che era venerato come santo prima della
canonizzazione formale che avvenne il 5 giugno 1446 con cerimonia solenne a
Roma; la bolla ufficiale fu emanata il 1° febbraio 1447; la festa fu fissata al
10 settembre. La canonizzazione fu funzionale all’Ordine, che trovò così il suo
primo santo, al pontefice, che celebrò in questo modo la riconquista politico
territoriale delle Marche, nonché alla comunità civica di Tolentino, che
acquistò il suo santo patrono moderno. Tolto per breve tempo dal calendario
della Chiesa universale con la riforma di Pio V, Nicola vi fu reinserito da
Sisto V con la bolla Sancta Romana Ecclesia del 23 dicembre 1585.
La qualità di taumaturgo
è la più appariscente della santità di Nicola, ma va detto che nella sua figura
sono assommati una pluralità di segni e significati che ne fanno un santo
moderno per il suo Ordine in quell’epoca. Se il rigore ascetico-penitenziale –
fatto di astinenza da alimenti quali carne (il drastico rifiuto di questa lo
porta a una dinamica tensione in rapporto all’obbedienza dovuta ai superiori
[cap. 7 della Historia, ed. Santi, pp. 114-117]), uova, pesce, formaggio;
di frequenti digiuni a pane e acqua; di preghiera costante (la forza della
quale è esaltata con la narrazione della liberazione del fratello Gentile
dall’inferno [cap. 5, pp. 110-111]); di afflizioni corporali con la pratica
della disciplina – rinvia a un contesto di santità eremitica tradizionale,
altri tratti lo propongono come modello del perfetto frate sacerdote. Egli vive
la sua ascesi nella dimensione della comunità conventuale, attivo in tutti quei
compiti che competono alle funzioni sacerdotali, per esempio celebrando con
grande devozione ed effusione di lacrime la messa, prima della quale sempre si
confessa: l’episodio della liberazione delle anime dal purgatorio grazie
alle messe celebrate da Nicola (cap. 5, pp. 106-109) è volto a dar prova
della validità di tale celebrazione tanto più se officiata da un degno e santo
sacerdote. Si dedica ampiamente all’ascolto delle confessioni tanto che in
tempo di Quaresima non mangia fino a sera (Processo, testi 10, 14, 245) e
volentieri gli uomini confessano a lui i propri peccati a motivo della sua
buona vita e devozione (teste 14). Predica e le persone che lo ascoltano
rimangono contente (teste 28). Visita gli infermi e sostiene i poveri. Seda le
discordie. Pone pace tra moglie e marito (teste 233). È descritto sempre come
umile, benigno, affabile, onesto, casto. Sovente, infatti, i testimoni che lo
hanno conosciuto si diffondono sulle sue doti personali: «erat modestus,
quietus; non erat miser, nec invidus, nec cupidus et fugiebat libenter
scandala; non erat fantasticus, immo sapiens et discretus; non erat avarus, nec
negligens, sed erat multum obiediens priori suo» (teste 173).
Il Compendio procede a una sintesi: «pudico, casto, modesto,
riservato, sereno, generoso, tranquillo, alieno da invidia, nemico degli
scandali, per nulla ambizioso né stravagante; morigerato, giusto, saggio,
prudente, discreto; odiava l’avarizia, detestava la negligenza, si interessava
con cura di quanti erano affidati a lui; dotato di buon senso, era fedele, umile,
cortese» (cfr. Tornando alle fonti..., 2002, p. 11).
La sua fedeltà all’Ordine
è esaltata dal cap. 6 della Historia (ed. Santi, pp. 112 s.): Nicola
è tentato da un cugino a cambiare ordine poiché il suo è poverissimo, ma
resiste ed è ovvio l’intento del frate biografo di farne così un campione di
coerente adesione al ‘nuovo’ ordine mendicante. Nicola mantiene una rigorosa
povertà personale circa le vesti e il giaciglio, ma è lontano da radicali
tensioni pauperistiche: devoto di Agostino ne rispetta la regola. «Quanto al
vitto e al vestito dei frati, ogni cosa gli sembrava insufficiente, mentre per
sé si accontentava di poco. Per grazia di questa virtù non si preoccupava delle
cose proprie, ma di quelle di Gesù Cristo, anteponendo non le cose proprie alle
altrui ma le altrui alle proprie, per essere pienissimo osservatore della
regola del padre suo santissimo Agostino il quale, in quel luogo in cui espone
le parole dell’ apostolo Paolo, osserva: “La carità di Dio, della quale è
scritto che non cerca le cose proprie ma le comuni, così si intende, che
antepone non le proprie alle comuni ma le comuni alle proprie”» (cap. 9, p.
127). Se gli assalti diabolici narrati dal biografo bene rientrano in
un topos agiografico, va detto che essi non trovano nelle
testimonianze processuali adeguati riscontri. La forte immagine che emerge da
esse è in linea di massima quella del perfetto frate sacerdote in grado di
condurre ‘vita mista’, unendo dimensione ascetico-penitenziale con le necessità
dell’apostolato. Nicola, pur dotato di apparizioni e premonizioni, non si
distingue tuttavia per estasi o per rivelazioni mistiche straordinarie.
Certamente è un santo cristomimetico, ma non vi è accentuata enfasi per la
Passione, l’umanità e la povertà di Cristo. La sua è una santità vicina al
quotidiano, ai problemi della gente, non lontana e non inimitabile. È il santo
dei rapporti con le persone come prova, per esempio, il legame amicale con il
notaio Bernardo Appillaterre e la sua famiglia (Processo, teste 16).
Il culto fu immediato,
come attestano le fonti coeve scritte e iconografiche, e diffuso (testi 16, 82,
87): in Romagna, nella Tuscia, nel Ducato di Spoleto, nella Marca di Ancona
fino a zone del Regno di Sicilia. Il ruolo dell’Ordine per la diffusione del
culto è stato costante e persistente, propagandolo nel tempo ovunque nel mondo:
dall’originaria area marchigiana e tolentinate a tutta la penisola italiana
fino alla Spagna, all’America centro-meridionale, alle Filippine; dai Paesi
Bassi e dalla Francia fino all’Argentina. La Historia in età
tardomedievale, fu tradotta in antico islandese passando per una versione
medio-basso tedesca. Il carmelitano Battista Spagnoli di Mantova fece della
vita di Nicola un poema epico apparso nel 1509. Epitomi della vita di Nicola
sono state inserite nel Chronicon di Antonino da Firenze,
nel Legendarium di Ermanno Greven, nel Liber
vitasfratrum di Giordano di Sassonia.
La vastità delle
raffigurazioni del santo in affreschi, tavole, tele, sculture, incisioni, opere
di oreficeria e quant’altro – raffigurato da solo con i suoi specifici
attributi (croce, giglio, libro, sole/stella), o nell’atto di compiere un
miracolo, o insieme a Cristo, alla Vergine, a s. Agostino o altri santi, in
‘sacre conversazioni’ ecc. – danno davvero il tono dell’estendersi del culto in
modo pressoché capillare.
Il patrimonio di 397
ex-voto dal XV al XIX secolo, conservati nel Museo del Santuario a Tolentino,
attesta l’ampia devozione popolare tutt’ora in piena vitalità. Il perdono
concesso da Bonifacio IX si celebra la domenica dopo il 10 settembre; era ed è
invocato per le anime del purgatorio oltre che per le tante necessità della
vita umana; presso il santuario alla quarta domenica di Quaresima si ha il rito
della benedizione di piccoli pani che poggia su di un episodio narrato
dalla Historia (cap. 7, ed. Santi, pp. 119-121), cioè la prodigiosa
guarigione di Nicola, per intercessione della Vergine, con un pezzo di pane
bagnato nell’acqua.
La salma, conservata
nella cripta dell’attuale santuario, si mantenne incorrotta fino al 1345, dopo
di che le braccia furono recise e la devozione si concentrò su di esse da cui –
tra ’500 e ’600 – si sarebbero avute numerose effusioni di sangue. Ritrovati i
resti di Nicola, nel 1926, a essi furono ricongiunte le braccia.
Fonti e Bibl.: Il
Processo per la canonizzazione di s. N. da T., a cura di N. Occhioni, Roma
1984; Il Compendio del Processo di canonizzazione di san N., a cura di R.
Cicconi, Tolentino 2002; Tornando alle fonti. La figura di s. N. negli
Atti del Processo di canonizzazione, Tolentino 2002; Petrus de Monte Rubiano,
Historia beati Nicolai de Tolentino. Introduzione, edizione critica della
redazione vulgata, traduzione e commento, a cura di F. Santi, Tolentino 2007
(con ampia bibliografia). Poiché la letteratura storiografica sul personaggio è
cospicua si rinvia a C. Alonso, Saggio bibliografico su s. N. da T.,
Tolentino 1991, e all’ampia bibliografia presente nell’edizione di F. Santi,
segnalando i seguenti testi: Gli ex-voto per s. N. a Tolentino, Tolentino
1972; D. Gentili, Un asceta e un apostolo. S. N. da T., Tolentino 1978; E.
Ruggeri, L’archivio del convento di S. Nicola e i suoi più antichi
documenti, in Studi maceratesi, XIII (1979), pp. 114-116 (per il doc. del
1294); A. Trapé, S. N. da T.. Un contemplativo e un apostolo, Cinisello
Balsamo (MI) 1985; S. N., Tolentino, le Marche, Tolentino 1987; Arte
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