Missionnaire dominicain
(1526-1580)
Né en Espagne, à Valence, où son père professait le notariat, saint Louis Bertrand reçut le baptême sur les mêmes fonts baptismaux que saint Vincent Ferrier. Ce Saint ne reçut que des exemples de charité et de foi de toute sa famille. A l'âge de sept ans, il organisait de petites retraites dans quelque coin où rien ne pouvait le divertir de la pensée du bon Dieu. Son enfance toute pieuse fit présager de sa sainteté future. Adolescent, plutôt que de se joindre aux amusements des jeunes gens de son âge, Louis Bertrand préférait visiter les malades et s'appliquait à les secourir.
Le jeune Louis ne tarda pas à revêtir l'habit clérical. Entré dans l'Ordre de St-Dominique, il fut un exemple de toutes les vertus religieuses dès le noviciat, et malgré sa complexion délicate, il ne cessa jamais d'être le plus ardent à toutes les observances régulières. Ses parents alléguèrent le prétexte de sa santé fragile pour l'inciter à abandonner la vie religieuse, mais Louis leur répondit qu'il aimait mieux mourir que de quitter son monastère.
Bien qu'il se jugea profondément indigne de la grâce du sacerdoce, Louis Bertrand fut ordonné prêtre à l'âge de vingt-trois ans. Lorsqu'il reçut la charge de maître des novices, il prit comme résolution et devise cette courte sentence d'un grand équilibre spirituel: "Douceur de mère, autorité de père."
En 1576, après avoir merveilleusement transformé son couvent et la ville de Valence par ses vertus et ses prédications, Louis Bertrand s'embarqua à Séville avec d'autres religieux qui partageaient son idéal d'évangéliser les Indiens d'Amérique. Après avoir surmonté les périls d'une effroyable tempête, le navire aborda en Nouvelle-Grenade, appelée aujourd'hui Colombie. Il y opéra un bien immense ainsi que chez les indigènes du Pérou. Les missionnaires ignoraient tout de la langue indigène, mais saint Louis Bertrand se fit comprendre d'eux par miracle, sans aucune difficulté, en parlant uniquement espagnol.
Comme le nombre des convertis augmentait chaque jour, les ennemis de la foi tentèrent de se débarrasser de l'ardent apôtre en l'empoisonnant. Les assassins se réjouissaient déjà de sa mort, lorsqu'ils virent le Saint venir à leur rencontre en souriant. Un revirement complet se produisit alors subitement en eux. Regrettant sincèrement leur infâmie, ils implorèrent leur pardon et réclamèrent le baptême.
Louis Bertrand dut retourner en Espagne sur l'ordre de ses supérieurs. Durant douze ans, il prêcha dans son pays natal, luttant contre le mal, propageant avec zèle la dévotion au rosaire et s'appliquant à former des religieux à l'esprit de prière et à l'humilité, vertus qu'il leur recommandait avant toutes autres.
Accablé par les infirmités, saint Louis Bertrand s'en réjouissait et répétait comme saint Augustin: "Brûlez, déchirez Seigneur, mais pardonnez-moi!" Dans sa dernière maladie, il ne perdit jamais patience ni courage. Dieu le réconforta par des visions et la révélation des douleurs de la Passion de Son divin Fils. C'est dans des transports et des effusions d'amour qu'il rendit son âme à son Seigneur, le 9 octobre 1580.
Résumé O.D.M.
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_louis_bertrand.html
Saint Louis Bertrand († 1581)
Dominicain espagnol, d'une grande érudition, il voulait travailler à la conversion des infidèles des Indes Occidentales et du Pérou. Né à Valence, le 1er janvier 1526, Louis Bertrand prit l'habit de l'Ordre le 26 août 1544. Prêtre en 1547, il fut assigné en 1548 au couvent de Llombay et se vit confier presqu'aussitôt la charge de maître des novices, ce qui le confirma dans ses penchants personnels à l'austérité. A en croire son hagiographe, c'est sur sa propre demande que semblent se prendre les orientations successives de son existence religieuse. Maître des novices, il voulait aller à Salamanque pour y refaire des études: l'autorisation lui fut refusée et il revint à Valence. C'est de là qu'il partit en 1562 comme missionnaire sur le territoire de l'actuelle Colombie. Là, il déploya une intense activité apostolique, baptisant de très nombreux indiens. Dans son procès en canonisation, il a été raconté qu'il avait le don des langues, pouvant ainsi se faire comprendre des populations locales, et qu'il avait aussi échappé à de nombreuses tentatives d'assassinat.
Pendant sept ans, il y déploya une activité missionnaire dont les détails demeurent peu connus. Au dire des témoins du procès de canonisation, cet apostolat fut marqué de toutes sortes de prodiges. De retour en Espagne, le 18 octobre 1569, il acheva sa vie à Valence, où il seconda les activités pastorales de l'archevêque Juan de Ribere. Il y mourut le 9 octobre 1581.
• Béatifié le 19 juin 1581 par le Pape Paul V, il fut canonisé le 12 avril 1671 par le Pape Clément X en même temps que Sainte Rose de Lima, François Borgia, et Philippe Benizi.
• Il est le saint patron de la Colombie Sa fête est fixée au 9 octobre
SOURCE : http://www.dominicains.ca/Histoire/Figures/bertrand.htm
St. Louis Bertrand
Born at Valencia, Spain, 1 Jan., 1526; died 9
Oct., 1581. His patents were Juan Bertrand and Juana AngelaExarch. Through his father he was related to the illustrious St.
Vincent Ferrer, the great
thaumaturgus of theDominican Order. The boyhood of the saint was unattended by any of the prodigies that frequently forecast heroic sanctity. At an early age he
conceived the idea of becoming a Friar Preacher, and despite the efforts of
hisfather to dissuade him, was clothed with the Dominican habit in the Convent of
St. Dominic, Valencia, 26 Aug., 1544. After
the usual probation, in which he distinguished himself above all his associates
in the qualities of an ideal religious, he pronounced the vows that irrevocably bound him to the life of perfection.
The profound significance of his religious profession served as a stimulus to the increase of virtues that already gave evidence of being
cast in heroic mould. In demeanour he was grave and apparently without any
sense of humour, yet withal possessed of a gentle and sweet disposition that
greatly endeared him to those with whom he came in contact. While he could lay no
claim to the great intellectual gifts and ripe scholarship
that have distinguished so many of the saints of the Dominican order, he applied himself
assiduously to study, and stored his mind with thesacred truths expounded in the pages of the "Summa". In 1547 he was
advanced to the priesthood by theArchbishop of Valencia, St. Thomas of Villanova.
The
extraordinary sanctity of the young Dominican's life, and the remarkable influence he exercised on those about him,
singled him out as one peculiarly fitted to lead others along the path of perfection. Consequently, he was
appointed to the most responsible office of master of novices, in the convent at Valencia, the duties of which he discharged at different intervals for an aggregate of thirty
years. The plague that decimated the inhabitants ofValencia and the vicinity in 1557, afforded the saint an excellent opportunity for the exercise of his charity andzeal. Tirelessly he ministered to the spiritual and physical needs of the afflicted.
With the tenderness anddevotion of
a mother he nursed the sick. The dead he prepared for burial and interred with his own hands. When the plague had subsided, the zeal of the holy novice-master sought to extend the
scope of his already largeministry into
the apostolate of preaching. Though possessed of none of the natural qualities deemed essential for a successful career in the pulpit, he immediately
attracted attention as a preacher of great force and far-reaching influence.
The cathedral and most capacious churches were placed at his disposal, but proved wholly inadequate to accommodate the multitude that desired to hear him.
Eventually it became necessary for him to resort to the public squares of the city. It was probably the
fame of his preaching that brought him to the attention of St. Teresa, who at this time
sought his counsel in the matter of reforming her order.
Unknown
to his brethren, St. Louis had long cherished the desire to enter
the mission fields of the New World. The hope that
there he might find the coveted crown of martyrdom contributed not a little to sharpening the edge of his desire. Possessed of the necessary permission he sailed for America in 1562, and landed atCartagena, where he immediately
entered upon the career of a missionary. The work thus begun was certainly
fruitful to an extraordinary degree, and bore unmistakably the stamp of Divine approbation. The process of hiscanonization bears convincing testimony to the wonderful conquest which the saint achieved in this new field of labour. The Bull of canonization asserts that, to facilitate the work of converting the natives to God, the apostlewas miraculously endowed with the gift of tongues. From Cartagena, the scene of his first
labours, St. Louis was sent to Panama, where in a comparatively
short time he converted some 6,000 Indians. His next mission was
atTubera, situated near the sea-coast and midway between the city of Cartagena and the Magdalena River. The success of his efforts at this place is witnessed by the entries of the baptismal registers, in the saint's own handwriting. These entries show that all the inhabitants of the
place were received into the Church by St. Louis. Turon places
the number of converts in Tubera at 10,000. What greatly enhances the merit of this wonderful achievement is that
all had been adequately instructed in the teachings of the Church before receiving baptism, and continued
steadfast in their faith.
From Tubera the Apostle bent his steps in the direction of Cipacoa and Paluato. His success at the former
place, the exact location of which it is impossible to determine, was little
inferior to that of Tubera. At Paluato the results of his zealous efforts were somewhat disheartening. From this unfruitful soil the saint withdrew to theprovince of St. Martha, where his former successes
were repeated. This harvest yielded 15,000 souls. While labouring at St Martha,
a tribe of 1500 Indians came to him from Paluato to implore the grace of baptism, which before they had
rejected. The work at St. Martha finished, the tireless missionary undertook the
work ofconverting the warlike Caribs, probably inhabitants of the
Leeward Islands. His efforts among these fierce tribesmen seem not to have been
attended with any great success. Nevertheless, the apostolate among theCaribs furnished the occasion again to make
manifest the Divine protection which constantly overshadowed theministry of St.
Louis. A deadly draught was administered to him by one of the native priests. Through Divine
interposition, the virulent poison failed to accomplish its purpose, thus
fulfilling the words of St. Mark:
"If they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them" (xvi,
18). Teneriffe next became the field of the saint'sapostolic labours. Unfortunately, however, there
are no records extant to indicate what was the result of his preaching. At
Mompax, thirty-seven leagues south-east of Carthagena,
we are told, rather indefinitely, that many thousands were converted to the Faith. Several of the West India islands, notably those of St.
Vincent and St. Thomas, were visited by St. Louis in his indefatigable quest for souls.
After
an apostolate the marvellous and enduring fruits of which have richly merited for him the title of Apostle of South America, he returned under obedience to his native Spain, which he had left just seven
years before. During the eleven remaining years of his life many offices of honour and responsibility were imposed upon him. The numerous duties that attached to them were not permitted to interfere with the exacting
regime of his holylife. The ever
increasing fame of his sanctity and wisdom won the admiration and confidence of even the officials of
the Government, who more than once consulted him in affairs of State. With the
heroic patience that characterized his whole life he endured the ordeal of his last sickness. He was canonized by Clement X in 1671. His feast is observed on 10 October.
Sources
WILBERFORCE, The Life of St. Louis Bertrand (London,
1882); TOURON, Histoire des Hommes Illustres de l'Ordre de Saint
Dominique(Paris, 1747), IV 485-526; ROZE, Les Dominicains in
Amérique (Paris, 1878), 290-310; BYRNE, Sketches of
illustrious Dominicans(Boston, 1884), 1-95.
O'Connor, John Bonaventure. "St. Louis
Bertrand." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New
York: Robert Appleton Company,1910. 4 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09376b.htm>.
Voir aussi : http://liberius.net/livres/Vie_de_saint_Louis_Bertrand_000000983.pdf
