30 mai : fête de saint Ferdinand III de Castille (1)
Publié le 1 Juin 2010
La récente exposition de la fête
de la Très Sainte Trinité nous a conduits à négliger de rappeler la fête d'un
très grand personnage du monde chrétien, honoré le 30 mai. Pour rattraper
cette lacune, nous reprenons ici quatre articles publiés en son honneur il y a
de cela déjà deux ans.
Le 30 mai célèbre en effet, pour les
catholiques, une double libération. C’est d’abord, pour nous Français, la fête
de sainte Jeanne d’Arc, morte sur le bûcher en 1431, réhabilitée en 1456,
canonisée en 1920. Sainte Jeanne d’Arc, on le sait, est l’une des saintes
Patronnes de la France.
Bien moins connu chez nous est saint
Ferdinand III, que nous fêtons également en ce jour.Il fit reculer l’islam en Espagne, et
conquit Cordoue, Murcie, Grenade et Séville.
Ce saint nous intéresse particulièrement
parce qu’il fut roi, et un très grand roi. Roi, il fut un politicien par
excellence, réunissant en lui et dans son action au service de son pays toutes
les vertus que peut réunir un prince chrétien, de prudence et de justice.
Sa vie est une précieuse leçon de choses,
à un double titre.
D’abord, elle vient nous montrer qu’un
gouvernement sage, intelligent, courageux, vertueux, peut réellement
exister. Ce n’est
pas une abstraction marsienne, un être de raison, un impossible qui va de soi
dans son impossibilité et dans cette seule impossibilité. La preuve en est
apportée, fût-elle rare. Qu’un païen n’y croit pas, qu’un libéral ou un
socialiste gangrenés par leurs idéologies respectives n’y croient pas, soit.
Mais qu’un chrétien ne le croit pas, non, ce n’est pas admissible. Alors c’est
un stimulant à la prière, à la prière de conversion pour notre pays, pour nos
gouvernants. Comme on dit dans l’Ecriture, « le bras de Dieu n’est pas
raccourci ». Faisons prier nos enfants pour cette cause.
La seconde leçon est plus anecdotique. La
cité moderne déchristianisée, “libérée” de Dieu, se présente comme un paradigme
de civilisation, de progrès humain, d’intelligence, d’épanouissement social,
dans un cadre institutionnel indépassable. Méditons un peu ces choses. Certes
le Moyen-Age n’a pas produit que des Ferdinand III [dont la seconde épouse,
Béatrice de Souabe, tertiaire de l'Ordre de la Merci, a été elle-même
béatifiée] et des Louis XI, son cousin germain, tous deux tertiaires de saint
François, contemporains de saint Dominique et de saint Thomas d’Aquin, loin
s’en faut ! Mais notre Âge, que produit-il donc ? En quels modèles
humains se reconnaît-il depuis la Révolution française qui a mis fin à la « superstition »
? Ce serait très cruel de faire sur ce point des rapprochements.
Nous empruntons le récit qui suit, que
nous traduisons, à l'étude de José M. Sánchez de Muniáin, San Fernando
III de Castilla y León, Año cristiano, tome II, Ed. BAC 1959, Madrid,
pp. 523-531. En raison de la longueur du texte, nous le publierons en
plusieurs articles. N’oublions pas nos frères espagnols, dans la communion :
c’est l’occasion aussi de prier pour eux. Ils en ont bien besoin !
Saint
Ferdinand (≈ 1198 - 1252) est, sans exagération, l’espagnol le plus illustre de
l’un des plus grands siècles de l'histoire humaine, le treizième, et l'une des
figures les plus hautes de l’Espagne ; il est peut-être, avec Isabelle la
Catholique, le personnage le plus complet de toute notre histoire politique. Il est l’un de ces modèles humains qui conjuguent au plus
haut degré la piété, la prudence et l’héroïsme ; l’un des greffons les
plus heureux, en quelque sorte, des dons et des vertus surnaturels sur les dons
et les vertus humains.
A la différence de son cousin germain saint Louis IX de France (1),
Ferdinand III n'a pas connu la défaite, ni même l’échec. Il a triomphé dans
toutes ses entreprises intérieures et extérieures. Dieu a porté ces deux
cousins à la sainteté par des voies humaines opposées : l'un sous le signe du triomphe terrestre,
l’autre sous celui du malheur et de l'échec.
Ferdinand III a uni définitivement les couronnes de Castille et de León. Il a reconquit la quasi-totalité de
l’Andalousie et de Murcia. Les sièges de Cordoue, de Jaén, de Séville, et la conquête de bien d’autres places
de moindre importance ont revêtu une grandeur épique. Le roi maure de
Grenade est devenu son vassal. Une première expédition castillane a pris pied
en Afrique, et notre roi est mort alors qu’il planifiait le passage définitif
du détroit. Il a entrepris la construction des plus belles de nos cathédrales
(Burgos et Tolède certainement, peut-être León,
qui a commencé sous son règne). Il a pacifié ses Etats et les a administrés
avec une justice exemplaire. Il fut tolérant envers les Juifs et rigoureux à
l’égard des apostats et des faux convertis. Il promut la science et consolida
les universités naissantes. Il créa la marine de guerre castillane. Il protégea
les récents Ordres mendiants, franciscains et dominicains, et prit garde à
l’honnêteté et à la piété des soldats. Il prépara la codification de notre
droit, instaura le castillan comme langue officielle des lois et des documents
publics, à la place du latin. Il est de plus en plus certain, historiquement,
que le fleurissement juridique, littéraire et même musical de la cour
d’Alphonse X le Sage [son fils] (2) fut le fruit de l’œuvre de son père. Il a
peuplé et colonisé consciencieusement les territoires conquis. Il a institué ce
qui allait devenir les Conseils du Royaume, en désignant un collège de douze
hommes savants et prudents pour l’assister. Il a observé rigoureusement les
pactes et les engagements pris à l’égard de ses adversaires, les chefs maures,
même lorsque des raisons de convenance politique nationale se sont
ultérieurement présentées. En un sens, il était l’antithèse chevaleresque du
“prince” de Machiavel.
Il fut, comme nous le
verrons, un habile diplomate et, en même temps, le promoteur infatigable de la
Reconquête. Il n’a voulu la guerre qu’en tant que croisade chrétienne et de
légitime reconquête nationale, et il a respecté son engagement de ne jamais
prendre les armes contre d’autres princes chrétiens, épuisant pour cela toutes
les ressources de la patience, de la négociation et du compromis. Au sommet de
l’autorité et du prestige, il s’est constamment attaché, avec une tendresse
filiale, exprimée à maintes reprises dans des documents officiels, à suivre les
sages conseils de la mère exceptionnelle qui était la sienne, Bérengère. Il a
dominé les seigneurs turbulents, pardonné magnanimement aux nobles vaincus qui
se sont soumis, et il a honoré de ses largesses les chefs fidèles de ses
campagnes. Il a favorisé le culte et la vie monastique, tout en exigeant la
coopération économique des mains-mortes ecclésiastiques et féodales qui était
due. Il a renforcé la vie des municipalités, et réduit au minimum les
contributions économiques nécessitées par ses entreprises guerrières. En une époque aux mœurs licencieuses, il a donné
l’exemple d’une très haute pureté de vie et de ses sacrifices personnels, en
gagnant ainsi auprès de ses fils, des prélats, des nobles et du peuple la
réputation unanime d’être un saint.
Comme gouvernant, il fut à la fois sévère et bienveillant, énergique et
humble, audacieux et patient, courtois et pur. Il a incarné ainsi, avec son
cousin saint Louis IX de France, l’idéal chevaleresque de son époque.
A sa mort, selon les témoignages contemporains, hommes et femmes éclatèrent
en sanglots dans les rues, y compris les hommes de guerre.
Bien plus. Nous savons qu’il a conquis même le cœur de ses ennemis, à ce
point a priori inconcevable que certains princes
ou rois maures ont embrassé la foi chrétienne à cause de son exemple. « Nous n’avons rien lu
de tel au sujet de rois antérieurs », dit la chronique contemporaine du Tudense (3), en parlant de l’honnêteté
de ses mœurs. « C’était un homme doux, avec un grand sens politique », témoigne l’historien Al Himyari, son adversaire musulman. Le roi maure de
Grenade fut présent à ses obsèques, avec une centaine de nobles portant des
flambeaux. Son petit-fils, Jean-Manuel, l’appelait déjà, dans l’Exemplo XLI, « le saint et bienheureux roi Don Fernando ».
(à suivre)
Traduction
Hermas.info ©
(1) En effet, la mère de Ferdinand III,
Bérengère Ière de Castille (1180-1246) [fille d'Alphonse VIII et
d'Aliénor d'Aquitaine], était la soeur aînée de Blanche de Castille
(1188-1252), qui eut notamment pour enfant Louis IX, autrement dit
"notre" saint Louis (1214-1270), roi de France. Note du
traducteur.
(2) Alphonse X le Sage
(1221-1284), sans avoir la grandeur de son père, fut néanmoins l'une des plus
grandes figures de la monarchie médiévale d'Espagne. Erudit, poète, musicien,
il est l'auteur des célèbres 426 "Cantigas de Santa María", ces
poèmes chantés en l'honneur de Notre-Dame. « L'art du troubadour
- écrivait-il pour les présenter - exige de l'entendement et de la raison,
et bien que je ne possède pas ces facultés au degré que je voudrais, j'espère
que Dieu me permettra de dire un peu ce que je désire. Et ce que je désire,
c'est que la Vierge fasse de moi son troubadour ». On consultera sur
ce sujet le site qui leur est consacré, ICI. Note du traducteur.
(3) Les médiévaux étaient
familiés de ces surnoms donnés à des auteurs, des professeurs, en fonction de
leur origine. Le "Tudense" désigne Lucas
de Tuy († 1249), chanoine de Saint-Isidore de León et évêque de Tuy, qui fut
notamment un historien très connu en son temps, et à qui la reine Bérengère
confia la rédaction d'un ouvrage qu'il intitula le Chronicon mundi (l'histoire du monde). Note du traducteur.
Rédigé par José M. Sánchez de MUNIAIN - Traduction de
l'espagnol par Pierre GABARRA
Pour honorer saint Ferdinand III de Castille
(2)
Plutôt que d’être à la fois un roi et un
saint, Ferdinand III fut un saint roi, c'est-à-dire un séculier, un homme de
son siècle, qui a atteint la sainteté dans l’exercice de sa charge.
Ce fut un homme de mortification, un pénitent, à l’instar de tous les
saints, mais le meilleur témoignage de sa sainteté, en dehors de tout projet
panégyrique, c’est la critique historique la plus froide, les documents, les
chroniques, les faits contenus dans les actes juridiques, qui attestent d’une
vie toute entière consacrée au service de son peuple pour l’amour de Dieu, avec
un tel soin, une telle constance et un tel sacrifice que l’on en est stupéfié.
Saint Ferdinand, pour cette raison, conquiert le cœur de tous les historiens,
de ses contemporains immédiats aux nôtres. Physiquement, il est mort à la suite
des longs labeurs qu’il a dû s’imposer pour mener, sur tous les fronts de son
royaume, une tâche qui, à la considérer dans son ensemble, paraît impossible.
Peut-être est-ce là une des formes du martyre les plus agréables à Dieu.
Nous voyons ainsi atteindre la sainteté un homme qui fut marié deux fois,
eut treize enfants, fut un conquérant, un gouvernant, un homme de justice, un
sportif, un homme de cour, un troubadour, un musicien. Plus encore, par les
mystérieuses voies de la providence divine, nous honorons en lui, sur les
autels, un homme qui était le fils illégitime d’un mariage royal incestueux,
annulé par le grand pape Innocent III, celui d’Alphonse IX de León avec sa
nièce Bérengère, fille d’Alphonse VIII, héros de la bataille de Las Navas (1).
Ferdinand
III eut sept fils et une fille de son premier mariage avec Béatrice de Souabe,
la princesse allemande que les chroniqueurs décrivent comme « très
bonne, belle, savante et pudique » (optima, pulchra, sapiens et pudica),
petite-fille du grand empereur croisé Frédéric Barberousse, puis, sans
difficulté politique de succession familiale, il épousa la française Jeanne de
Ponthieu, dont il eut encore cinq enfants. Au milieu d’une société courtisane
très relâchée, sa mère Bérengère lui conseilla de se marier sans attendre, à
l’âge de vingt ans, et plus tard elle lui conseilla de se remarier. Le choix de
cette seconde épouse revint à Blanche de Castille, mère de saint Louis.
Ce
serait pure conjecture que de se demander s’il aurait embrassé l’état
ecclésiastique à défaut d’être roi (étant rappelé que les Cortes de León lui
avaient déjà prêté serment alors qu’il n’avait que dix ans, peu après la
séparation de ses parents). La vocation vient de Dieu et Il l’a voulu ce qu’il
fut. Il l’a voulu saint roi. Saint Ferdinand est un très grand exemple, l’un
des plus exemplaires de l’histoire, d’une sainteté séculière.
(à suivre)
Traduction hermas.info ©
_______________
(1) La bataille de Las Navas de Tolosa, qui eut le 16 juillet 1212, est l'une
des plus prestigieuses victoires des armées chrétiennes lors de la Reconquista.
Note du traducteur.
Rédigé
par José M. Sánchez de MUNIAIN - Traduction de l'espagnol par Pierre GABARRA
Saint Ferdinand III le Saint
Roi de Castille et
de Léon (✝ 1252)
Roi de Castille et
de Léon, cousin du roi
saint
Louis. Il libéra Cordoue et Séville occupées par les Maures depuis
cinq siècles et y planta la Croix du Christ.
Ferdinand III (1198-1252) - Roi de Castille et de Léon, il
reconquiert l'Espagne de Cordoue jusqu'à Séville, fonde l'université de
Salamanque et construit la cathédrale de Burgos. Canonisé en 1671. (diocèse de
Poitiers- quelques saints du Poitou et d'ailleurs)
À Séville en Espagne, l’an 1252, saint Ferdinand
III, roi de Castille et de León, prudent dans l’administration de son royaume,
protecteur des arts et des sciences, attentif à diffuser la foi.
Martyrologe
romain
Saint Ferdinand, roi de Castille et de Léon (1198 - 1252)
Ferdinand naît vers 1198 d'Alphonse IX, roi de Léon et de Bérengère, fille
du roi de Castille et sœur de Blanche de Castille. Ainsi, de par sa mère, il
est cousin germain de Louis IX, roi de France, connu sous le nom de Saint
Louis.
Il
reçoit de son père une sérieuse éducation chrétienne et chevaleresque.
A la
mort du jeune roi Henri, héritier du trône de Castille, en 1217, sa mère le
fait proclamer roi de Castille et couronner à Valladolid le 31 août 1217.
A 21 ans, en 1219, il épouse Béatrix de Souabe qui lui donnera 10 enfants.
Durant
son règne, Ferdinand se soucie de lutter contre les hérésies et de faire perdre
du terrain à l'Islam qui, depuis plusieurs siècles, asservit l'Espagne.
A la
mort de son père et après bien des péripéties, il devient également roi de
Léon, en septembre 1230. Peu à peu, il repousse vers l'extrême sud de l'Espagne
les limites de l'occupation islamique par les prises successives de Cordoue,
Murcie, Grenade et Séville.
Ferdinand
meurt à Séville le 30 mai 1252.
Le Pape Clément X le canonise le 4 février 1671.
La fête
de Saint Ferdinand est le 30 mai.
SAINT FERDINAND III, ROI DE CASTILLE
ET CONFESSEUR.
Dans les
jours consacrés à honorer la naissance de notre Emmanuel, nous vîmes près de
son berceau l'imposante figure du bienheureux empereur Charlemagne. Ceint du
diadème impérial, tenant en main son puissant glaive, il semblait veiller sur
l'enfant que des bergers avaient adoré les premiers Aujourd'hui, près du
glorieux sépulcre visite d'abord par Madeleine et ses compagnes, nous
apercevons un roi, Ferdinand le Victorieux, ceint de la couronne et faisant la
garde avec sa vaillante épée si redoutée du Sarrasin. La France et l'Espagne
sont ainsi représentées sur le Cycle par leurs plus nobles souverains : l'un
vénérant le mystère du Dieu incarné, l'autre rendant son hommage au mystère du
Dieu vainqueur de la mort.
La
catholique Espagne est personnifiée dans son Ferdinand, et la France très
chrétienne reconnaît dans ce prince héroïque le sang de son saint Louis.
Bérengère, mère de Ferdinand, et Blanche, mère de Louis, étaient sœurs. Pour
former le royaume catholique, il fallut un des Apôtres du Christ, saint Jacques
le Majeur; il fallut une épreuve formidable, l'invasion du Sarrasin qui déborda
sur la Péninsule comme un déluge ; il fallut un exploit chevaleresque qui dura
huit siècles, et par lequel l'Espagne recouvra son sol et sa liberté. Saint
Ferdinand résume en lui cette armée de héros qui ont repoussé le Maure et créé
la patrie ; mais au courage du soldat il a réuni les vertus du saint.
Quels
exploits dans cette vie qui compte autant de victoires que de combats !
Cordoue, la ville des Califes, tombe au pouvoir d'un si fier chrétien, et les
portiques de son alhambra n'abriteront plus le luxe et la mollesse féroce des
sectateurs de l'Islam. Sa splendide mosquée est purifiée par l'eau sainte, et
devient l'église cathédrale de Cordoue redevenue chrétienne. Les sectateurs de
Mahomet avaient enlevé les cloches de l'Eglise de Saint-Jacques à Compostelle,
ils les gardaient en trophée à Cordoue ; par ordre du saint roi, ces cloches
sont reportées à dos de Sarrasin, à travers l'Espagne, jusqu'à l'auguste
sanctuaire auquel elles avaient été ravies.
Séville, à
son tour, après un siège de seize mois, tomba au pouvoir de Ferdinand, malgré
sa double enceinte de murailles flanquées Je cent soixante-six tours. L'armée
chrétienne était faible en nombre; la défense des Sarrasins servis par tous les
avantages du site et l'habileté de la conduite, fut de la dernière énergie ;
mais le croissant dut s'éclipser devant la croix triomphante. Ferdinand accorda
un mois aux Sarrasins pour se retirer de la ville et du territoire. Trois cent
mille se replièrent sur Xérès, et cent mille passèrent en Afrique. Le vaillant
chef de ce peuple abattu, jetant un dernier regard sur la ville rentrée au
pouvoir des chrétiens, dit à ses officiers, les larmes aux yeux : « Il n'y a
qu'un saint qui ait pu avec de si faibles troupes se rendre maître d'une place
si forte et peuplée de tant de défenseurs. »
Nous
n'énumérerons pas ici les villes et les provinces reconquises par le héros
chrétien. Sa carrière toute de succès dut faire pressentir aux Maures que la
Péninsule leur échapperait un jour tout entière ; au reste, Ferdinand avait
formé le projet de faire une descente sur la côte africaine, et d'aller ainsi
éteindre l'islamisme jusque dans son foyer le plus ardent. La mort arrêta ce
noble dessein, et parvenu à l'âge de cinquante-trois ans, le saint roi échangea
la couronne de la terre pour celle du ciel.
Sa piété
l'avait rendu le ministre docile de la volonté de Dieu, dont il se regarda
toujours comme l'humble instrument. Austère comme un anachorète, Ferdinand fut
compatissant comme un père pour ses peuples : « Je crains plus, dit-il un jour,
les malédictions d'une pauvre femme que toute l'armée des Sarrasins. » Il dota
richement les églises qu'il élevait dans l'Espagne reconquise, et, fidèle
chevalier de la Reine des deux, il l'honora toujours comme sa dame et
maîtresse. En retour d'un culte si fervent, Marie daigna bénir constamment les
armes de son illustre champion. On doit voir aussi un gage de sa maternelle
tendresse pour le saint roi dans un fait mentionné par les chroniqueurs contemporains,
et qui dans ces siècles atteste l'intervention divine. Durant tout le règne de
Ferdinand, ni la peste ni la famine ne vinrent affliger ses Etats. A la
différence de notre saint Louis, dont la vie fut remplie d'épreuves, Ferdinand
fut toujours heureux ; comme si Dieu eût voulu donner à la fois aux hommes,
dans ces deux admirables princes, le modèle du courage dans l'adversité et
l'exemple de la modération dans les prospérités. A
eux deux ils forment le plus complet tableau de la vie humaine régénérée dans
le Christ, en qui nous adorons les humiliations de la croix et les splendeurs
de la résurrection. Heureux siècles où Dieu choisissait les rois pour donner
aux chrétiens de telles leçons !
On se
demandera comment un homme, un prince, tel que saint Ferdinand, accueillit la
mort, lorsqu'elle vint tout à coup arrêter le cours de sa glorieuse carrière.
Il était encore dans la force de l'âge. A l'approche du prêtre qui lui
apportait le Corps du Seigneur, le pieux héros descend de son lit, et ce n'est
qu'après avoir adoré son Sauveur, la face contre terre et la corde au cou,
qu'il reçoit l'hostie sacrée. Ayant accompli ce grand acte, se sentant arrivé
aux portes de l'éternité, il ordonne qu'on le dépouille des marques de la
royauté, et appelle ses fils autour de son lit de mort. S'adressant à l'aîné
qui fut Alphonse le Sage, il lui recommanda le soin de ses frères et les égards
qu'il devrait à ceux qui sont les vassaux du prince et ses compagnons d'armes ;
puis il ajouta : « Mon fils, tu vois de quelles forces, de quelles possessions,
de quel nombre de sujets tu es entouré, plus qu'aucun autre roi chrétien ; fais
en sorte d'user dignement de ces avantages ; sois bon, avant tant de moyens de
faire le bien. Te voilà maître de cette terre que les Maures enlevèrent jadis
au roi Rodrigue. Si tu conserves le royaume dans l'état où je te le laisse, tu
seras un bon roi, comme je l'ai été ; il en serait autrement, si tu en laissais
perdre quelque chose. »
La dernière
heure approchait ; une apparition céleste vint conforter le royal mourant. Il
remercia Dieu de cette faveur, et demanda le
cierge béni ; mais avant de le prendre dans ses mains, levant les veux au ciel,
il dit : « Seigneur, vous m'avez donné le royaume que je n'avais pas, vous
m'avez donné plus d'honneur et de puissance que je ne méritais : recevez-en mes
actions de grâces. Je remets entre vos mains ce royaume que j'ai accru autant
qu'il m'a été possible : je vous présente en même temps mon âme. » Il demanda
ensuite pardon à ceux qui l'entouraient, les priant de lui faire grâce, s'il
leur avait donné lieu quelquefois de se plaindre de lui. Toute la cour était
présente ; et l'on n'entendit que des voix entrecoupées de sanglots, qui à leur
tour imploraient le pardon.
Le saint
roi prit alors le cierge en ses mains, et relevant vers le ciel, il dit : «
Seigneur Jésus-Christ, mon rédempteur, je suis sorti nu du sein de ma mère, et
je vais rentrer nu dans la terre. Seigneur, recevez mon âme, et par les mérites
de votre très sainte Passion, qu'il vous plaise la placer parmi celles de vos
serviteurs. » Après ces paroles, il rendit le cierge, et demanda aux évêques et
aux prêtres qui étaient autour de lui, de réciter les Litanies, après
lesquelles il leur fit chanter le Te Deum. Tout étant achevé, il inclina
la tête, ferma les yeux et expira doucement.
Ainsi
mouraient ces hommes dont la foi avait inspiré toutes les œuvres, et qui
sentaient qu'ils n'étaient en ce monde que pour servir Jésus-Christ et le faire
régner. Ces rois avaient fait l'Europe ; ils lui avaient donné pour première
loi l'Evangile, et pour droit public les canons de l'Eglise. L'Europe, après
des siècles d'unité dans le lien catholique, a cherché une autre loi et un
autre droit; elle se dissout aujourd'hui, et semble même avoir oublié l'élément qui la forma
et la maintint durant tant de siècles à la tête de l'humanité. Puisse-t-elle un
jour ouvrir les yeux, et, s'il en est temps encore, arrêter la décadence qui
l'entraîne fatalement, et conjurer la ruine qui la menace !
Nous
empruntons les Leçons de l'Office du saint roi au Propre de la ville de Rome.
Ferdinand III, roi de Castille et de
Léon, à qui depuis quatre siècles l'accord des ecclésiastiques et des séculiers
a attribué le nom de Saint, donna, dès son adolescence, de si grandes preuves
de sagesse, que Bérengère, reine de Castille, sa mère, qui l'avait élevé très
saintement, abdiqua la royauté pour la lui remettre entre les mains. A peine
Ferdinand fut-il entré dans les soins du gouvernement, que l'on vit briller en
lui les vertus d'un roi : la magnanimité, la clémence, la justice, et
par-dessus tout le zèle de la foi catholique, dont il sut défendre et propager
la pratique religieuse avec ardeur. Il montra ce zèle principalement en
poursuivant les hérétiques, auxquels il ne permit jamais d'habiter dans ses
royaumes. Il le fit voir encore en érigeant, dotant et consacrant au culte
chrétien les églises de Cordoue, Jaén, Séville, et autres villes arrachées par
lui au joug des Maures. Il rétablit avec une pieuse et royale munificence les
cathédrales de Tolède, de Burgos, et plusieurs autres.
En même temps, dans le royaume de
Castille et de Léon, où il avait succédé à Alphonse son père, il réunit de
fortes armées, et entreprit chaque année des expéditions contre les Sarrasins,
ennemis du nom chrétien. Le plus puissant moyen de ce pieux roi pour s’assurer
constamment la victoire fut dans les prières qu'il adressait à Dieu, dont il
s'assurait le secours en flagellant sévèrement son corps avant la bataille, et
se couvrant d'un rude cilice. Ce fut ainsi qu'il remporta d'insignes victoires
contre les puissantes armées des Maures, et qu'il restitua au culte chrétien et
à l'Espagne des villes nombreuses, ayant conquis les royaumes de Jaën, Cordoue
et Murcie, en même temps qu'il rendit tributaire celui de Grenade. Il amena ses
étendards victorieux devant Séville, capitale de la Bétique, après une vision
dans laquelle on rapporte que saint Isidore, autrefois évêque de cette ville,
lui en avait donné le conseil. Les historiens racontent aussi qu'il fut assisté
du secours divin dans ce siège, en la manière suivante. Les Mahométans avaient
tendu sur le Guadalquivir une chaîne de fer qui barrait le passage. Un vent
violent s'éleva tout à coup, et l'un des navires royaux lancé par l'ordre du
prince alla briser cette chaîne avec une telle violence qu'il fut entraîné plus
loin, et alla rompre un Sont de bateaux dont la ruine enleva l'espoir aux
laures, et amena la reddition de la place.
Ferdinand a attribué toutes ces
victoires au patronage de la bienheureuse Vierge Marie, dont il avait toujours
dans son camp l'image qu'il honorait d'un culte spécial. Ayant pris Se ville,
son premier soin fut de songer au culte divin. Il fit purifier tout aussitôt la
mosquée des Sarrasins, et la dédia au service religieux des chrétiens, l'ayant
pourvue avec une royale et pieuse libéralité d'un siège archiépiscopal
richement doté et d'un collège de chanoines et de dignités convenablement
établis. Il érigea encore d'autres églises et plusieurs monastères dans cette
ville. Au milieu de ces actes de piété, il se préparait à passer en Afrique
pour y anéantir la puissance musulmane , lorsqu'il se vit appelé au royaume du
ciel. Etant arrivé à ses derniers moments, il adora la corde au cou, prosterné
par terre, avec d'abondantes larmes, la sainte Eucharistie qu'on lui apportait
pour viatique.
Ayant reçu le divin sacrement avec la
plus humble révérence accompagnée des plus vifs témoignages de son attachement
à la foi catholique, il s'endormit dans le Seigneur. Son corps, demeuré sans
corruption depuis six siècles, repose dans la cathédrale de Séville, où il est
renfermé dans un tombeau de la plus rare magnificence.
Vous avez
délivré votre peuple du joug de l'infidèle, ô Ferdinand, imitant le divin
ressuscité qui nous a affranchis de la mort du péché et rendus à la vie que
nous avions perdue. Vos conquêtes n'ont point ressemblé à celles des
conquérants profanes, qui n'ont d'autre but que de satisfaire leur orgueil et
celui de leurs peuples. Vous veniez délivrer vos frères opprimés et courbés
depuis des siècles sous un joug odieux. Vous veniez, les arracher aux périls de
séduction qu'ils couraient dans un esclavage séculaire. Champion du Christ,
c'est pour lui d'abord que vous forciez les remparts des cités sarrasines. Son
étendard était le vôtre, et vous cherchiez avant tout à étendre son royaume. En
retour, il daigna vous bénir en tous vos combats, et votre épée sortit toujours
victorieuse.
Votre
mission, ô Ferdinand, fut de préparer au Seigneur un peuple que la sainte
Eglise a honoré entre tous les autres, en lui décernant le beau nom de
Catholique. Heureuse Espagne, qui à force de persévérance et de courage a su
briser le joug musulman, que les peuples qui l'ont subi gardent toujours !
Heureuse Espagne, qui a repoussé avec succès l'invasion de la prétendue Réforme
au XVI° siècle, ayant ainsi conservé l'antique foi qui sauve les âmes, et est
en même temps le plus fort lien de la patrie ! Priez pour votre peuple, ô
Ferdinand ! Des doctrines perverses circulent dans son sein, des influences
perfides cherchent à l'égarer, et beaucoup d'âmes sont séduites. Ne souffrez
pas qu'il sacrifie jamais par d'imprudentes et lâches concessions ce dépôt de
foi qu'il a su maintenir intact durant tant de siècles. Combattez les
machinations ténébreuses par lesquelles les méchants cherchent à le lui
enlever. Maintenez en lui l'horreur qu'il a si longtemps ressentie pour
l'hérésie, et que rien ne le fasse déchoir du rang qu'il a conquis entre les
peuples fidèles. L'unité de croyance et de culte peut le sauver encore, le
retenir sur le bord de l'abîme où tant de nations ont sombré; saint roi, sauvez
encore une fois le royaume que Dieu vous avait confié, et que vous remettiez
entre ses mains avec une si humble reconnaissance, au moment où vous alliez
échanger la couronne de la terre contre celle du ciel. Vous êtes resté son
protecteur aimé; hâtez-vous de le secourir.
Dom
Guéranger. L’Année liturgique
St. Ferdinand III
King of Leon and Castile,
member of the Third Order of St.
Francis, born in 1198 near Salamanca;
died at Seville, 30 May, 1252. He was the son of Alfonso IX,
King of Leon, and of Berengeria, the daughter of Alfonso
III, King of Castile, and sister
of Blanche, the mother of St. Louis
IX.
In 1217 Ferdinand
became King of Castile, which
crown his mother renounced in his favour, and in 1230 he succeeded to the crown
of Leon, though not without civil strife, since many
were opposed to the union of the two kingdoms. He took as his counsellors the
wisest men in the State, saw to
the strict administration of justice, and took the greatest care not to overburden
his subjects with taxation, fearing,
as he said, the curse of one poor
woman more than a whole army of Saracens. Following his mother's advice, Ferdinand,
in 1219, married Beatrice,
the daughter of Philip of
Swabia, King of Germany, one of the most virtuous
princesses of her time. God blessed
this union with seven children: six princes and one princess. The highest aims
of Ferdinand's life were the
propagation of the Faith and the
liberation of Spain from the Saracen yoke. Hence his continual wars against the Saracens. He took from them vast territories, Granada and Alicante alone remaining in their power at
the time of his death. In the most important towns he founded bishoprics, reestablished Catholic worship
everywhere, built churches,
founded monasteries, and endowed
hospitals. The greatest joys
of his life were the conquests of Cordova (1236) and Seville
(1248). He turned the great mosques of these places into cathedrals, dedicating
them to the Blessed Virgin. He
watched over the conduct of his soldiers, confiding more in their virtue
than in their valour, fasted strictly himself, wore a rough hairshirt,
and often spent his nights in prayer, especially before battles. Amid the tumult of
the camp he lived like a religious
in the cloister. The glory
of the Church and the happiness of his people were the two guiding motives of
his life. He founded the University of Salamanca, the Athens
of Spain. Ferdinand
was buried in the great cathedral of Seville
before the image of the Blessed Virgin,
clothed, at his own request, in the habit
of the Third Order of St.
Francis. His body, it is said, remains incorrupt. Many miracles took place at his tomb, and Clement X canonized him in 1671. His feast is kept by the Minorites on the 30th of May.
Heckmann, Ferdinand.
"St. Ferdinand III." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909.
30 May 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06042a.htm>.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. September 1, 1909.
Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John
M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
St. Ferdinand III., King of Castile
and Leon, Confessor
HE was eldest son to Alphonsus, king
of Leon, and of Berangera of Castile, elder sister 1 of Blanche, mother of St. Lewis of
France, and was born about the end of the year 1198 or some time in 1199.
Beranga had been obliged by Pope Innocent III. to a separation from Alphonsus
of Leon after having borne to him two sons, Ferdinand and Alphonsus, and two
daughters, because, though in the third degree of consanguinity, they had been
married without a dispensation, which was at that time very difficult to be
obtained. But because this marriage had been contracted bona fide by the
decrees of the pope, and the states of the two kingdoms, their children were
declared their lawful heirs. Berangera returned to her father Alphonsus IX. of
Castile, one of the most valiant and virtuous kings that ever reigned in Spain,
and who was to her the most tender and best of fathers. He dying in 1214, his
son Henry, eleven years of age, succeeded him under the tutorship and regency
of his mother, Eleonor of England. But she followed her husband to the grave
within twenty-five days; grief for having lost him being the cause of her
death. Berangera was charged with the guardianship of her brother and the
regency of the kingdom; but out of love of retirement suffered herself to be
persuaded to resign both to a nobleman called Don Alvarez, who proved a
perfidious, turbulent man, and for several years embroiled all Castile and the
neighbouring kingdoms. Berangera was a princess of accomplished prudence and
piety, and exercises of devotion were her chief delight. King Henry, by the
contrivance of Alvarez, at twelve years of age was married to Mafalda, sister
to Alphonsus, king of Portugal, but upon an impediment of consanguinity which
was proved before commissaries, Pope Innocent III. declared the marriage null,
and Mafalda returning to Portugal, founded a Cistercian nunnery at Arouca, took
herself the veil, and lived in such great sanctity as to be honoured among the
saints on the 1st of May. The young King Henry died of a wound he received by a
tile falling upon his head at Palencia on the 6th of June, 1217, and Berangera
put in her claim to the crown; but transferring her right upon her son
Ferdinand, surnamed the Saint, caused him, who was in the eighteenth year of
his age, to be proclaimed king at Palencia, Valladolid, and Burgos, having
first lodged in the archives of the church of this last city, the solemn act of
her own resignation. Don Alvarez and other factious spirits filled the kingdom
with disturbances and civil wars for several years; but these the young king by
his clemency, prudence, and valour, assisted by his mother’s counsels, stifled
and overcame. Alvarez was taken and pardoned; and perfidiously renewed his treasonable
cabals and broils, both at home and abroad. Though Ferdinand was so great a
king, no child ever obeyed a mother with a more ready and perfect submission
than he did Berangera to the time of her death, as his ancient historian
assures us. 2 By her advice he took to wife, in
1219, Beatrix, daughter of Philip of Suabia, emperor of Germany, a most
virtuous and accomplished princess. The happy union of their hearts was never
disturbed by the least cloud during the fifteen years of their cohabitation;
and their marriage was blessed with a numerous family of seven sons and three
daughters. St. Ferdinand was severe in the administration and the execution of
the laws, but readily pardoned all personal injuries; and no sooner were
rebellions crushed, but he granted general amnesties. His prudence and his
constant attention to the care of his people appeared most conspicuous in the
happy choice he always made of governors, magistrates, and generals. Rodriguez,
archbishop of Toledo and chancellor of Castile, was during thirty years at the
head of all his councils, and so perfectly united with Berangera and St.
Ferdinand in all their deliberations as to seem to have but one soul with them.
To set a curb to inferior tribunals he established the court, since called the
Royal Council of Castile, which consists of ten auditors, and to which there
lies an appeal from all other courts. A code of laws which he caused to be
compiled by the most able lawyers 3 is still used in that kingdom.
Nothing ever so much troubled our
saint, as when his own father Alphonsus, king of Leon, stirred up by Alvarez,
laid claim to and invaded his dominions. St. Ferdinand endeavoured by the most
dutiful and endearing letters to give him all possible satisfaction, and lent
him his own forces to fight against the Moors. With this succour his father
conquered Caures, Merida, and Badajoz, and extended his dominions to the
frontiers of Andalusia. Being resolved as much as possible never to draw his
sword but against the infidels, he restored several places the claims to which
seemed doubtful, and waved all occasions of quarrels with the kings of Portugal
and Arragon, and with Eleonor of England in Gascony. He founded several
bishoprics, and contributed munificently to the building or repairing of many
stately cathedrals, and other churches, monasteries and hospitals. No necessity
could ever make him impose any heavy tax upon his subjects. In his wars with
the Moors, when one suggested to him a method of raising an extraordinary
subsidy, he rejected the proposal with indignation; saying, “God would not fail
to supply him other ways, and that he feared more the curse of one poor old
woman than the whole army of the Moors.” He first marched against them into the
kingdom of Baëza in 1225; and in the second year, Aben Mahomet, a prince of the
race of the Miramolins of Africa, king of that country, yielded himself up
vassal to King Ferdinand, and surrendered to him his strongest holds. In 1230
he took nearly twenty strong places in Andalusia, and in the kingdoms of
Cordova and Jaën. Aben Mahomet having been murdered by a general conspiracy of
his subjects, because he had made himself vassal to a Christian king who was
the sworn enemy of their religion, St. Ferdinand took occasion to conquer the
whole kingdom of Baëza, and to erect a bishopric in its capital. His whole
conduct bore testimony to the truth of his solemn protestation, in which he
appealed to heaven, saying: 4 “Thou, O Lord, who searchest the
secrets of hearts, knowest that I desire thy glory, not mine; and the increase
of thy faith, and holy religion, not of transitory kingdoms.” The Archbiship
Rodriguez performed the solemn office, and all pastoral functions in the army,
and the bishop of Palencia in his room one year that he happened to be sick.
St. Ferdinand set his soldiers the most perfect example of devotion. He fasted
rigorously, prayed much, wore a rough hair-shirt made in the shape of a cross,
spent often whole nights in tears and prayers, especially before battles, and
gave to God the whole glory of all his victories. In his army he caused an
image of the Blessed Virgin to be carried, and wore another small one on his
breast, or sometimes when on horseback placed it on the pummel of his saddle
before him. From the spoils taken in war he contributed in a truly royal manner
to the rebuilding of the most stately cathedral of Toledo, of which he laid the
first stone. Several towns which were conquered from the Moors, he gave to the
Order of Calatrava or others, and to the archbishopric of Toledo, upon
condition they should defend them against the infidels. This is the origin of
the great riches of that archbishopric, and of the military religious Orders in
Spain.
St. Ferdinand was marching to lay
siege to Jaën in 1230, when he received news of the death of his father,
Alphonsus of Leon, and was called by his mother to take possession of that
kingdom, which from that time has remained united with Castile. It cost him
three years to settle the affairs of his new kingdom; but in 1234 he
recommenced his wars against the Moors by the siege of Ubeda, which he took
after having spent the whole campaign before it. In the meantime the infant
Alphonsus, with fifteen hundred men, defeated at Xeres the formidable army of
Abenhut, king of Seville, divided into seven bodies of troops, each of which
was more numerous than the whole Christian army. From the deposition of several
prisoners and others, the Christians concluded that the apostle St. James had
appeared at the head of their troops in the armour of a knight, mounted on a
white horse; and this victory cost the Christians only the lives of one knight,
who had refused to forgive an injury, and ten soldiers. The joy of these victories
was allayed by the death of the virtuous Queen Beatrix, St. Ferdinand’s
consort, who departed this life at Toro, about the beginning of the year 1236.
The grief for this loss did not long suspend his warlike preparations, and
whilst James, king of Arragon, wrested from the Moors the kingdom of Majorca
and that of Valentia, he completed the conquest of the two Moorish kingdoms of
Baëza and Cordova. This last city had been in the hands of those infidels five
hundred and twenty-four years, and had been long the capital of their empire in
Spain, when St. Ferdinand, after a long siege, entered it by capitulation, on
SS. Peter and Paul’s day in 1236. The great mosque was purified by John, bishop
of Osma, and converted into a church under the invocation of the Mother of God,
and St. Ferdinand refounded there a bishopric. The great bells of Compostella,
which Almansor had caused to be brought hither on the backs of Christians, St.
Ferdinand commanded to be carried back on the backs of Moors.
In 1237, by the counsels of his
mother, he married a second wife, chiefly at the recommendation of his aunt
Blanche, dowager queen of France. This was Jane of Ponthieu, who bore him two
sons and a daughter, 5 and lived in the most happy
constant harmony with the queen mother and the king till their death, and
joined them in all their exercises of piety and devotion. The winter they
usually spent together; in spring, when the king put himself at the head of his
army to march to new conquests, she usually assisted Berangera in
superintending the domestic administration of the affairs of state. St.
Ferdinand in the campaigns which followed the taking of Cordova made himself
master of twenty-four other towns, of which Ecija was the first and Moron the
last. Abenhudiel, king of Murcia, voluntarily surrendered his kingdom to king
Ferdinand, reserving some open places to himself and certain lords of his
country, which they were to hold in vassalage. St. Ferdinand sent his son
Alphonsus to take possession of the city of Murcia, to purify the mosques, and
establish there a bishopric. The strong cities of Lorca, Mula, and Carthagena,
which refused to yield themselves up to him, he took three years after. Arjona
and Jaën maintained obstinate sieges; but at length fell into the hands of
Ferdinand, with Alcala, Real, Ivora, and some other places dependent on Jaën.
The loss of this capital so terrified Benalhamar, king of Granada, that he
repaired to the camp of Ferdinand, cast himself at the feet of the conqueror,
and offered to hold his kingdom of him in vassalage, and to pay him an annual
tribute of one hundred and fifty thousand maravedis. These conditions were
accepted, and by remaining always faithful to king Ferdinand, he transmitted
his kingdom to his posterity. The rich and strong city of Seville, after the
death of its king Abenhut, had formed itself into a republic, when king
Ferdinand resolved to turn his forces against that place, far the most
important which the Moors at that time possessed in Spain. The death of
archbishop Rodriguez, his most faithful minister, followed by that of
Berangera, his mother, interrupted his preparations for a short time; but
motives of religion moderating his grief for the loss of the best of mothers,
he had no sooner settled the administration by the orders which he despatched
into Castile, but he resumed his expedition with greater vigour than ever. The
siege held sixteen months, Seville being then the largest and strongest city in
Spain. Its double walls were very broad and high, and defended by one hundred
and sixty-six towers; the western side of the city was secured by the great
river Guadalquivir, besides a deep broad moat at the foot of the innermost wall
round the city. All provisions were abundantly supplied from the famous garden
of Hercules, esteemed by the ancients the most delightful spot of ground in the
world, called by the Moors Axarafa. This territory is about thirty miles in
length, and twelve in breadth, and contained one hundred thousand farms besides
castles and towns. It lay on the right side of the river, where its
communication with the city was secured by the castle of Triana on that bank,
which was joined by a great iron chain, and a bridge of boats with the golden
tower on the opposite bank at the bottom of the city. St. Ferdinand’s fleet
defeated that of the Moors, and mounted the river within sight of the castle of
Triana; his land forces vanquished the succours sent from Africa, and in daily
combats gained continual advantages. Yet the siege was not advanced till in the
tenth month, on the feast of the Invention of the Cross in May, Ferdinand’s
admiral, by launching two great ships upon the chain and bridge of boats broke
both. Triana was then besieged, and after having been long battered with rams
and other engines, and stood many assaults, was at length reduced. The city
itself surrendered on the 23d of November, 1249; the Moors were allowed a month
to sell or dispose of their goods; three hundred thousand removed to Xeres, one
hundred thousand passed into Africa. Axataf, governor-general of the Moors at
Seville, being arrived at a hill called Belvidere, from which he had a prospect
of the sea before him, and of the city behind him, turning towards Seville to
take his last leave of that city, said with tears, that only a saint who by his
justice and piety had heaven in his interest in all his undertakings could ever
have taken so rich, so populous, and so strong a city with so small an army;
but that God by his eternal decrees had taken it from the Moors. St. Ferdinand,
after the most solemn thanksgivings to God, implored the intercession of the
Virgin Mother before her famous image which is still preserved, and refounded
the cathedral with such magnificence and splendour, that it yielded to no
church in Christendom but that of Toledo. The three years which he survived he
resided at Seville to settle the tribunals and regulate the affairs of this
important conquest; but added at the same time to his dominions Xeres, Medina,
Sidonia, Alcala de los Gazules, Bejar, Port St. Mary’s, Cadiz, St. Lucar,
Arcos, Lebrixa, Rota, Trebuxena, and a great number of other towns and castles.
He showed by his example that devotion is consistent with the duties of a king
and Christian soldier; he was in all things severe to himself, but
compassionate and mild to all others, always master of himself and his
passions. He was preparing an expedition against the Moors in Africa, when he
was taken with his last sickness. He prepared himself for death by the most
edifying sentiments of compunction and a general confession; then called for
the viaticum; and whilst the bishop of Segovia, attended by all the clergy of
Seville and the court, brought the holy sacrament, the king rose from his bed,
fell on his knees on the floor, put a cord about his neck, and taking a
crucifix in his hands kissed and saluted the wounds of his Saviour, watering
each of them with his tears. He then made his confession aloud, though he had
nothing to accuse himself of which others could think to have been criminal,
how much soever he was himself penetrated with confusion and regret for the
least appearance of a fault. He made an act of faith in presence of the holy
sacrament, which he received pouring forth a flood of tears of tender love and
devotion. Before his death he called for all his children, gave them excellent
instructions with his blessing, and asked pardon of all the world if ever he
had given offence to any. In his agony, holding a blessed taper in his hands,
he recommended his soul to God through the merits of his crucified Redeemer in
the most pathetic aspirations; then caused the clergy to recite near him the
Litanies, and afterwards the Te Deum. This was scarcely finished when he yielded
up his soul into the hands of his Creator on the 30th of May, 6 in the year 1252, the fifty-third
of his age, the thirty-fifth of his reign in Castile, and the twenty-second in
Leon. According to his desire he was buried before the image of our Lady in the
great church at Seville, and his body is still preserved in that church in a
rich shrine without the least blemish of corruption, and has been honoured with
miracles. St. Ferdinand was canonized by Clement X., in 1671. See the Chronicle
of Rodriguez Ximenes, archbishop of Toledo, high chancellor of Castile, and
minister to St. Ferdinand. This work ends in the year 1243, the twenty-sixth of
St. Ferdinand’s reign. Also Luke, bishop of Tuy in Gallicia, another
contemporary writer, whose Chronicle ends in 1237, the twentieth of St.
Ferdinand. Likewise the general Chronicle of Spain, and the particular
Chronicle of St. Ferdinand, compiled in the reign of his son and successor
Alphonsus X. Add the notes of Papebroke, t. 7, Maij. Mariana de Rebus
Hispaniæ, l. 12, c. 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, l. 13, c. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, and
F. Orleans, Hist. des Révolutionis d’Espagne, t. 1, l. 3, p. 488, &c.
Note
1. Roderiguez, at that time first dean,
then archbishop of Toledo, assures us that Berengera was the eldest of all the
children of this king, and next heir to the kingdom after her brother’s death.
It is therefore a notorious mistake of those who call Blanche the elder
sister. [
back]
Note 2. Luc Tudens. [back]
Note 3. This code is called by the Spaniards
Las Partidas. [back]
Note 4. Sancius, Episc. Palent. Hist. Hisp.
par. 3, c. 39. [back]
Note 5. This daughter named Eleonor, after
the death of her father, was carried by her mother into France, became heiress
of the counties of Ponthieu and Montreuil, and by marrying Edward I. of
England, united them to the dominions of that crown. See Triveti Chron.
&c. [
back]
Note 6. Mariana and others place the death of St. Ferdinand on the 30th of May;
but Flores shows that the Spaniards at that time called it the 31st. For May
had thirty-one days where the Julian alteration of the months was not adopted,
and the Dionysian epoch, in which the years were counted from Christ, was not
introduced in Spain till very late, and after this time. The Spanish era
preceded it thirty-eight years, commencing from the first year of Augustus’s
reign in Spain. Hence St. Ferdinand died in the year of Christ 1252, of the
Spanish era 1290. See Flores, the learned Austin friar, rector of the Royal
College at Alcala, in his Espana Sagrada, upon Chronologia de la Historia de
Espana, part 1, c. 6, p. 112, ib. c. 2, n. 52, 53, p. 35. [
back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
V: May. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
Ferdinand III, King of
Castile (RM)
Born near Salamanca, Spain, c. 1199; died in Seville, Spain, on May 30, 1252;
canonized in 1671 at the request of Philip IV.
Ferdinand was the son of
Alphonso IX, king of León, and Berengaria, the oldest daughter of Alphonso III,
king of Castile. His maternal grandmother was the daughter of Henry II of
England, and her sister Blanche became the mother of Saint Louis of France.
The death of Berengaria's
brother, Henry, left her heiress to the throne of Castile in 1217, but she
ceded her rights to the 18-year- old Ferdinand. He was a stern, but forgiving,
ruler who ignored personal slights, and an excellent administrator. The
archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Ximenes, was chancellor of Castile and his
principal adviser for many years. Ferdinand married Beatrice, daughter of King
Philip of Swabia in 1219.
Upon the death of his
father in 1230, Ferdinand became king of León. There was opposition to this,
for there were supporters of the claim of his two half sisters, but his union
of the two kingdoms made a recovery from the Moors possible. He campaigned
against the Moors without respite for 27 years, and his success won the great
devotion of his people. He recaptured the greater part of Andalusia, including
Ubeda, Cordova (1236), Murcia, Jaen, Cadiz, and Seville (1249).
It was in the battle of
Xeres, when only 10 or 12 Spanish lives were lost, that Saint James (Santiago)
was said to have been seen leading the host on a white horse. Saint James's
chronicle is a principal source for Ferdinand's achievements. Ferdinand's
military efforts were not so much imperialistic in motivation as driven by a
wish to save Christians from the dominance of infidels.
Although he was a warrior,
it was said of him that "he feared the curse of one old woman more than a
whole army of Moors." In thanksgiving for his victories, Ferdinand rebuilt
the cathedral in Burgos and converted the great mosque of Seville into a
church. He restored to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella the bells that
had been removed by the Moors.
Once the Moors and Jews
submitted, he pursued a course of tolerance, while encouraging the friars to
convert them. He was the founder of the famed University of Salamanca in 1243.
He married Joan of Ponthieu on the death of Beatrice. By his second wife he was
the father of Eleanor, wife of King Edward I of England. It is interesting to
note that upon his death he was buried in the habit of a Franciscan friar in
the cathedral of Seville. At his death he was popularly acclaimed a saint but
canonical recognition took another 400 years (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney,
White).
King Saint Ferdinand is
depicted in art as a crowned knight with a greyhound. He is dressed royal
regalia, cross on his breast, and the dog at his feet (Roeder). He is the
patron saint of persons in authority (rulers, governors, magistrates, etc.)--a
result of his wise appointments; the poor and prisoners (over whom such persons
rule); engineers (a result of his technical military skills), and the Spanish
army (White).
SOURCE :
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0530.shtml
Saint Fernando III
King Saint
Fernando III was born in the monastery of Valparaiso in Spain in the year 1199
– exactly 100 years to the month after the death of his illustrious ancestor,
Rodrigo Diaz, who was known by the honorary title of El Cid He was a true son of
the Cid, of noble heart and bearing. In him would be combined the soul of a
knight dedicated entirely to God, the irresistible power of the Cid and, due to
his royal heritage, the authority to marshal the might of an entire nation
against the enemies of Christ.
Saint
Fernando’s father was King Alfonso IX of Leon, and his mother the saintly Lady
Bereguera. As his parent’s marriage was annulled by Pope Innocent III, St
Fernando was actually raised by his grandfather, King Alfonso VIII of Castile, and his
mother. King Alfonso VIII was a great warrior and knight, to whom Christian
chivalry was more than just a code of conduct or a set of rules to which he
adhered; it was a pursuit of virtue meant to guide him in all of his thoughts
and actions. In striving for the ideal of knighthood, he attained a true
nobility of character. Living a life of honor, King Alfonso was a magnificent
warrior who courageously defended the Church and his kingdom of Castile. He was
also an excellent role model for young Fernando, who wanted nothing more than
to be a knight of Christ.
St Fernando was
still a young man when he became king of Castile. His kingdom was in tatters,
as there had been numerous raids by both Christian and Moor into Castile, as
well as internal rebellions. Saint Fernando worked tirelessly to restore his
realm to prosperity and administer justice throughout his land, though he
continued always to train as a warrior.
On the day
Saint Fernando became a knight, he prayed:
“Christ, my
Lord, I am in Thy hands, the same way this sword is in mine. Show me, my King,
what Thou wantest of this Thy knight.”
In the silence
and stillness of the night, St Fernando heard Christ answer him:
“I want to make
your whole life like a representation and marvelous parable so that the coming
centuries may contemplate the war that I, Eternal King and Universal Lord, wage
against the powers of darkness, to conquer the entire earth for my Father.
Fernando, you will be the noble and considerate king who leads his vassals in
this great enterprise, the courageous and mortified King who, above all others,
charges ahead in the midst of danger and endures the strain of hard work and
the fatigue of battle. You will be the generous and magnanimous King who in
victory does not worry about his treasures, but distributes the spoils among
his faithful knights.”
God granted to
Saint Fernando to see the stark outline of the life that was to be his, a life
full of struggles and hardships and warfare. Yet his soul did not quake at the
prospect, for he knew that he would be doing God’s will, and that God would be
with him as long as he remained true. He was prepared to do whatever was
required of him now, and all the days of his life.
King Saint
Fernando became one of history’s most gifted and formidable warriors, while
being at the same time one of the greatest monarchs who ever ruled. He, like so
many men of his time, did not seek to enjoy a long life so much as he sought to
live a good life. Thus, he spent his entire life in the service of God, rather
than wasting his time in service to himself.
King St
Fernando was a man of clear and deep faith, who realized that everything
depends on God and that it is He Who grants the victory. He knew, nonetheless,
that the Lord never wants to help those who are lazy but to assist with grace
those who do everything that is in their power. This effort becomes a prayer of
action, when combined with trust in Him.
As a consequence
of his holy intentions, all of Saint Fernando’s ventures met with success. He
was absolutely invincible, personally as well as while directing his armies,
conquering hearts and minds as completely as he did cities and strongholds. He
knew that there is no holier enterprise than to do one’s duty before God, and
that his first obligation was to rescue his own country.
This great Catholic monarch truly lived his faith, and by his chivalry,
loyalty, and generosity of character was worthy of the high regard and
friendship of those who had once fought against him. By the kindness and
gratitude he showed toward those who rendered service to him, and by his great
generosity, he captured the affection and won the willing obedience of his
nobility. He always and everywhere applied himself whole heartedly to his
duties as king, zealously seeking after justice and prosperity for his people.
He was a model of righteousness and proper conduct for his sons, and by his
example earned the respect and love of all his children. He was to them the
most tender and caring of fathers, leaving them an incomparable heritage the
like of which few Christian monarchs could boast.
The legacy of
King Saint Fernando III is far-reaching and eternal. It was he who had
permanently combined the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile, and with that might he
conquered more Islamic territory than any other Christian, expelled the Muslims
from most of Andalusia and turned their remaining kings into his obedient
vassals. King Fernando’s achievements clearly outstrip those of King Sancho II
and King Jaime I, not to mention those of king’s Saint Louis IX, Frederick II and Edward
I. At a time when the crusading efforts of all the rest of Christendom hardly
sufficed to maintain a foothold on the coast of the Holy Land, Fernando
inflicted on medieval Islam its greatest defeat up until that time.
King Saint
Fernando had been known as “the Saint” during his lifetime, so it should come as
no surprise that immediately after his death his subjects unanimously awarded
him a place in celestial glory. St Fernando soon became the object of public
veneration, and that same year Pope Innocent IV declared that King Saint
Fernando of Castile enjoyed the reputation of “having always followed the path
of obedience to the Divine precepts, and that he greatly contributed to the
spreading of the worship of the Holy Name of Jesus.”
The body of St
Fernando is incorrupt, and he can still be seen in the Cathedral of Seville,
for he rests now enclosed in a marvelous gold and crystal casket worthy of the
Castilian king. King Saint Fernando is the only king whose earthly crown has
never been taken away, for his golden crown still encircles his head as he reclines
beneath the statue of the Virgin of the Kings, awaiting the day of
resurrection.
Reviews of
"St. Fernando III
A Kingdom for Christ"
"Very little has been written about St. Fernando III. Very few Catholics
even know he existed, let alone his origins and the noble Catholic blood that
flowed through his veins. From Charlemagne to El Cie to Alfonso VIII, and
beyond himself to the beloved Queen Isabella of Spain, some of the greatest
Catholic figures in history have shared ni this lineage of warrior-saints. And
yet, all throughout the last four centuries, the honor and due reverence to
this man among men has lain hidden among the shadows of time, awaiting the day
when modern man would take notice of this King among kings; this Warrior among
warriors; this Saint among saints.
Now, that day
has come! Mr. Fitzhenry has put down on paper the life of a true Catholic hero;
one that we can happily place in the hands of our Catholic youth and say,
"Read this. This is what is expected of a Catholic man."
St. Fernando
III breaks through the apathy, so prevalent in today's society of egotism,
diversity and political correctness, and rekindles within the Catholic heart
the fight for our one, true Faith...and ultimately, Christ as King. Viva
Christo Rey!
Scott
Jones
Director, Our Lady of Victory School
Gloria Romanorum Review
Did you know that one of the greatest kings in Spanish history, Fernando III,
was also a saint? I didn't. But thanks to author James Fitzhenry, I do now.
Fitzhenry, who also penned El Cid: God's Own Champion, has written this
detailed yet approachable biography of this fascinating and inspiring example
of Catholic manhood. St. Fernando III: A Kingdom for Christ is geared toward
Catholic homeschooled kids, probably in the twelve and older age range. But the
writing is exceptional and as a mature reader of nearly 40, the book easily
held my attention.
Replete with family turmoil, civil strife, stunning
miracles, romance, and dozens upon dozens of skirmishes, pitched battles, and
sieges, the tremendous scope of St. Fernando's worldly accomplishments leave
the reader dumbfounded. But the heart of this book is St. Fernando's total
devotion to Christ and his Blessed Mother. Everything he did, he offered to God
without reservation. In his willingness to suffer personal hardships, unfailing
mercy toward his enemies, love for his wife and children, and care for the poor
and afflicted, St. Fernando was a model of Christian virtue. In his everyday
life, and especially when he faced a crisis, he turned to the Virgin and
believed to the depths of his soul that she would intercede for him. And based
on the magnificent achievements of his life, who can doubt that she did? For at
the same time that the Christian states in the Holy Land were failing despite
the best efforts of great crusading armies led by the most important crowned
heads of Europe, St. Fernando was able to weld together the small kingdoms of
Castile and Leon and use their combined might to reconquer almost all of
Andalusia from its Muslim overlords.
So in short, this book is a gem. St. Fernando III
is a Catholic hero who deserves to be more widely known. Now thanks to James
Fitzhenry and his enjoyable book, he will be.
Amazon Book Reviews
Mr. Fitzhenry, after success with his great work, El Cid: God's Own Champion,
in 2007, outdid himself with the story of St. Fernando, or San Fernando Rey.
This new book reads like a novel full of suspense, but based on the life of one
of the most amazing saints, yet before this great book, little was known about
him. This book tells of his strength in battle. He also consulted the Blessed
Virgin, to whom he was very devoted, even carrying a statue of her (Virgin of
Battles) on the horn of his saddle.
Fernando was brave, fearless because of his strong
faith, and always "knew" he was under the direction of God and
accomplishing His will.
I received this book as a Christmas present and
looked at it as, "Ho hum". That changed quickly, due to Mr.
Fitzhenry's captivating writing style, in-depth research utilizing 31 reference
books and therefore, what may have seemed to be legend has come to life as
accurately as an author could accomplish covering the Thirteenth Century.
It is always so trite to review a book by saying,
"This was so exciting, full of surprises and breathless close-calls, that
I couldn't put it down." Albeit true with Fernando, I HAD TO SLOW DOWN MY
READING! This was because I dreaded completing this great epic--I then paced
myself as one might do with a fine wine. After reading a section, there was
always much to contemplate, including visions from the Blessed Virgin, and how
in Fernando's early life, Fernando's mother the queen, offered great penances
and petitions to the Virgin to save her son who had become desperately ill. He
was miraculously cured.
In reading this adventure, you will travel through
all of the areas of Spain, as Fernando pushes the Moors to the sea, sterilizing
virtually all of Spain for Christianity. You will enjoy stories of the miracle
of enemy arrows turning around wiping out the enemy who shot them, the
appearance St. James several times with a compliment of soldiers from heaven.
St Isidore appeared often and even heavenly angels appeared in the middle of
battle to bolster Fernando's army. You will treasure stories of faith and more
faith, yet Fernando was God's man willing to do anything with the Blessed
Mother's prodding, direction and approval and always to please God.
I would suggest this book to adults, but children
who are able to read on an adult level will love this book, however a parent
could read it to a younger child a bit at a time. In closing, it should be
mandatory for high school students and all adults who love their faith. What's
next Mr. Fitzhenry? Please hurry!
Del Latham, M.S.
I highly recomend reading this beautiful book and adding it to your libraries -
El Cid is a heartwarming and inspiring story giving glorious tribute to the
triumph of human faith-and its well detailed events will forever dwell in your
mind! El Cid, a book for all ages, will make you forget where you are and take
you far into its story. This wonderful little book will strengthen the faith of
its readers, no matter how weak or strong it may be. Mr. James Fitzhenry is a
very creative and brilliant author. El Cid: God's Own Champion was rated
super-high by my husband and two young adult children, and voted the best story
book Fitzhenry has put together yet!
Adriana Attar
California
I greatly enjoyed reading this book to my children.
They were captivated by the fascinating details of this heroes life. The author
brought the characters to life with lively energy and beautifully drawn
illustrations. This amazing true story is written from a Catholic perspective.
El Cid epitomizes the moral virtues that are all but lost in today's society.
This is a perfect addition to any home schooling program. I highly recommend
this book to anyone with children.
A.H. Schermer
Amsterdam, NL
I bought this book for my future children as I want
them to read about the heroes of old who once fought to save and defend our
culture and our faith. I am myself descendant of Spaniards and have seen with
disgust how the science of history these past decades has fallen hostage to
ideology, an ideology which loves to hate the Western world and relativitize
everything. Spain during the Middle Ages was a society and a nation which
fought desperately for its own survival against Islamic aggression. Since
Europe in those days was one Christian unity Spain - just like Charles Martel,
the Byzantine empire and the sieges of Vienna - fought for the entire
Christendom. Latter-day historians driven by progressive ideology have done
their best to try to depict Rodrigo Diáz de Bivar as a simple free-booter,
however, the sources and general knowledge about medieval Spain reveals a whole
different picture. El Cid was and is a true once living example of a man who
fought for freedom, faith and family, and as such he presents a true role-model
for all Westerners, American and European and christians of all denominations.
In this post 9/11 world to read about medieval Spain is sobering reading. Islam
was and is the same ever since the days of its violent founder - pure and
simple aggression bent on world-domination. Anyone who disputes this should
study REAL history.
Pablo "Pablo"
Brazil
SOURCE :
http://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/saintfernando.html
Saint Ferdinand III
of Castille
Memorial
Profile
Son of Alfonso IX, King
of Leon, and Berengaria, daughter of King
Alfonso III of Castile;
cousin of Saint
Louis
IX. King
of Castile
in 1217
at age 18. King
of Leon in 1230.
King
of Palencia, Valladolid,
and Burgos. Married
to Princess
Beatrice, daughter of Philip of Swabia,
King
of Germany.
The couple had seven sons and three daughters. In his later years, Ferdinand’s father
desired to return to his throne, and he turned against Ferdinand; he eventually
gave up the idea, however, and the two reconciled. Following the death
of Beatrice in 1236,
Ferdinand married
Joan of Ponthiers, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
A stern judge when it came
to the law, he was gentle and forgiving in his personal life. Founded the
University of Salamanca. Rebuilt the
Cathedral
of Burgos.
Crusaded
for 27 years against the Muslims in
Spain.
Successfully held back Islamic invasions in
1225,
and took Cordoba and
Seville
from them in
1234-36.
Founded the
Cathedral
of Burgos and the University of Salamanca. Converted the Great Mosque in
Seville
to a
cathedral.
A man of great faith and
devotion, especially to
Our Lady,
Ferdinand founded and funded
hospitals,
bishoprics,
monasteries,
and churches. He reformed
Spanish
law, and compiled it into a form used for centuries after. An excellent
administrator and just ruler, often pardoning those who worked against the
crown. Strove always to use his power to better his people and his nation.
Born
Died
The death of Saint Ferdinand III, the
very noble King of Castile and Leon
The preparations for the
conquest of Moslem Africa were in advanced stages. The good King Don Ferdinand,
close to embarking, spoke to the two Alfonsos, his son and his brother, during
one warm evening while walking through the gardens, trying to convince one of
the two to remain in Spain to govern it. However neither would yield in their
insistent desire to go to Africa with him….
The month of May was ending
and the weather was very hot in Seville. That morning the King had gone to see
the various projects on the docks, and was returning tired, but happy, when
suddenly an attack of his old sickness assaulted him. It was so terrible and
accompanied by such a sharp pain that he clearly realized that this time he
would not escape. He was taken to bed, and as soon as he recovered somewhat and
was able to talk, he said to Alfonso and all there present:
“Time is running out and
the hour for me to die has come.”
Thus, with simple
naturality and with no sign of sorrow, he renounced his glorious dreams. For
him the will of God was everything….
Ferdinand, in the meantime,
requested the Viaticum to be brought to him. While a procession was being
organized in Santa Maria, the humble King was preparing himself to receive his
Lord and his God in the palace. He asked to be dressed in the beautiful white
and gold rich silk shirt he wore on feast days, and, in reverence to Christ’s
royal dignity and power, he ordered every reminder of human majesty to be
removed from his chamber. He no longer wanted to see his crown or his scepter,
or to think about government or honors of this world. Facing the bed where he
was lying his men erected a beautiful altar with purple damasks and fine linens
whiter than snow. On it they placed a sacred crucifix and six great silver
candlesticks with lighted candles. One after another, the sons and brothers of
the King arrived. The Queen was shedding tears of great affliction, and Teresa,
Aldonza and Urraca shared her grief. With them were their husbands and the
other noblemen of the King’s house and wise men of his council. Don Ferdinand’s
eyes were closed, and, absorbed in prayer, he was oblivious to the things of
this world. The only sounds in the large room were the difficult breathing of
the patient, the crackling of a sputtering candle and unrestrained sobbing.
Suddenly the silvery sound
of a distant bell was heard approaching. King Ferdinand opened his eyes and
looked at the door. Clergymen, friars and knights entered, all bearing lighted
candles whose small golden flames wavered with mysterious restlessness in the
darkness of the large room. And, after them, carried in a gold ciborium wrapped
in silk cloths by a devout and recollected priest of a military order, was the
Most Holy Body of Christ. Seeing Him, a powerful surge of love revived
Ferdinand, who lifted himself from the bed, knelt on the hard marble tiles, and
placed a rope he had prepared around his neck as a sinful penitent. Thus,
contrite and humiliated, King Ferdinand laid down his royalty before the divine
royalty of Jesus Christ. Near the altar Don Remondo waited dressed in the
pontifical vestments; before the ceremony began, the voice of the King rose:
“Give me first the Holy Cross so that I may repent for my sins before It.”
They placed It in his
hands, and, fixing his eyes on It, he began to shed bitter tears while he
said:’
“Look at me here, my Lord
Jesus Christ, in Thy presence as a wicked sinner, for I know well the many sins
with which I have offended Thee. But great as they may be, I trust in Thy mercy
that, through the merits of Thy holy Passion and Thy most precious death, Thou
wilt forgive me of them. Remember, Lord, the many outrages and torments Thou
suffered for my sake and by which Thou hast the name of Savior, and deliver Thy
servant of his sins, which were the cause of Thy sufferings.”
At this point the King’s
voice faltered, breaking in a sob. Recovering, he continued:
“I regret these offenses
very much, Lord, and I grieve also for the death Thou suffered for me; and
since Thy Holy Church forgives these sins, I want to confess them, to erase the
bad example I have given to these my vassals here present, knowing that I
detest these sins most heartily and would that I had never committed them…”
And humbly, painfully, he
manifested in a loud voice all the sins of his life, from his childish actions
as a boy to his last faults of yesterday. The noble countenance was covered
with shame, because, although his sins were the inevitable weaknesses of which
only the Mother of Christ was free, they seemed to him like great sins and, as
such, he felt great sorrow. But because he understood the infinite holiness of
God and because of the ardent love he had for Him, he performed this work of
justice to satisfy the divine majesty he had offended. In his contrition, he
continued:
“I well deserve every
humiliation for my sins, yet Thou, Lord, wanted to suffer the humiliation of
making them Thine and of appearing in the presence of the Father covered with
them, and because of the great shame Thou didst shed blood.… And then Thou wast
betrayed by one of your men, and imprisoned by the executioners and tied with
rough ropes… And Thou suffered this so that I would be free! And Thou wert
taken, Lord, to be judged by Annas and Caiphas and Pilate, and there Thou didst
stand like a criminal… And I, who have performed so much evil, have judged
Castile and León! So many outrages and so many blows Thou didst receive, and
they spit on Thy Face so that I, a sinful man, would be honored by all… And
Pilate’s soldiers seized Thee and scourged Thee fiercely; and while Thou were
suffering it, I was in the midst of pleasures!… And they placed on Thee a crown
of thorns and gave Thee a reed scepter and an infamous mantle, and while Thou
wast thus mocked, I have been obeyed by all! And Thou, my Lord, wast condemned
to death on the cross that I would live, and Thou carried the cross up the hill
of Calvary, and on it Thou didst let Thyself be nailed and Thou didst die so
that I would have Paradise with Thee!”
At this point, tears choked
Ferdinand’s voice again, and the lofty head, always erect in battle, fell
defeated on his chest, vanquished by love and grief, the tears sliding like a
string of pearls onto the silk of his shirt down to the floor. And striking his
breast with great blows, he ended his confession:
“And because by Thy death
Thou earned life for me, I request, O Lord of Thy Holy Church, and you, my
Father Archbishop, that you would absolve me of my sins.”
Don Remondo absolved him,
and then asked him if he believed in God One, and Triune.
“I believe in Him Who is
God, true and eternal, and Who gave to us of His glory; I believe in the Father
and the Son and the Holy Ghost. And I believe that the Son made Himself man in
the womb of the Glorious Blessed Virgin Mary; and I believe in and consent to
all the doctrines of our Holy Mother the Church.”
Don Remondo took the Host
in his hands and approached the King who lifted his head and gazed at the Host
with an indescribable expression of faith and desire. He received the Body of
Christ and remained absorbed in a true union with his King: it was the supreme
communion between the Lord of Lords and His lieutenant in Castile.
As if he were a third
person and witnessing from a distance, Ferdinand saw the devout procession
leave his room. Then he ordered to have the precious tunic he had worn to be
taken off him and went back to his bed. He remained motionless for sometime,
his head inclined on the pillows that kept him half-raised in calm and quiet
prayer. The Queen cried at his side, and his sons surrounded his bed, awaiting
the moment of the last blessing.
Finally Don Ferdinand
opened his eyes and called his eldest: “My son, Alfonso, come here!”
The Infante knelt at his
father’s side. Ferdinand lifted his right hand, and, very slowly because his
strength was already seeping away, made the Sign of the Cross on him as a
blessing. Then, taking his right hand between his, the King said:
“Son, you well see how my
life is ending, and I am leaving to give my soul to Him Who created it and
redeemed it. Tomorrow you will be King of all these realms of Castile and León.
Fear, love and obey God and join your will and deeds with Him and you will have
a good end. Do not fail to do good while you can, as these good works will save
your soul, and everything will pass before you like a dream. Rule the people
justly and follow my instruction to continue the task of compiling the laws so
we can govern all the people with the same consistent code. Take care of your
brothers and strive to improve their situations and treat them in such a way
that they do not regret having been born second. Consider the Queen like a
mother and give her all the honor appropriate for a queen. I also recommend to
you Don Alfonso my brother, and all my other brothers and sisters. Honor all
the noblemen of your kingdoms and always favor the knights, and faithfully
follow their laws and their exceptions and freedoms and those of all your
people.”
The King paused briefly to
regain his strength because life was leaving him; he looked in Alfonso’s eyes
again and added with an effort that made him tremble convulsively: “If all this
that I entrust to you, plead with you, and order you to fulfill is accomplished
you will have my full blessing, and if not, my curse.”
“Amen,” answered Alfonso,
his voice also somewhat choked from the emotion of that supreme moment.
Then the other children who
were in Seville began to approach: Fadrique, Henry, Felipe, Manuel, Ferdinand,
Doña Eleanor and Luis; each one the king blessed, making the Sign of the Cross
on them with his own hand. Manuel, in his turn, approached with his tutor Don
Peter López de Avala who said to Ferdinand when the Infante knelt: “Lord, if I
have served you well, I beg of you as a favor not to leave Manuel without an
inheritance.”
Don Ferdinand was nearing
his end, exhausted by the effort of being on his knees for such a long time,
the emotional confession and the farewell to his sons. Such was his condition
that he could only speak with great effort. He lifted his hand, purple as a
lily, and placing it with a gesture of a caress on the head of the distressed
young man, said: “Son, you are the last son I had of Queen Doña Beatrice, who was
a very good and holy woman, and I know she loved you very much. However, I
cannot give you any inheritance, but I give you my sword Lobera, which has
religious significance and with which God did much good for me.”
He then wished to be alone.
Watching them leave, he again called Don Alfonso, his firstborn, whom he had
loved and honored so much and whom he so greatly trusted.
“Son, you will be rich in
land and in many good vassals, more than any other king in Christendom. Try
hard to do good and be good; I leave you lord of all the land this side of the
sea that the Moors won from the Visgoth King Roderick. All of it remains under
your lordship, either conquered or tributary. If you maintain the boundaries of
the state as I am leaving them to you, you are as good a king as I; if you
conquer more, you are better, and if the boundaries decrease, then you are not
as good as I.”
The Queen was supported by
her ladies. After his sons had left, Alfonso de Molina, Rodrigo Alfonso and his
other brothers, the noblemen, his companions in toil and glory, all passed
before him, kissing as farewell the rigid hand that had fallen on the sheet.
The dying King looked at them, saying his goodbye with his eyes because the
fatigue of his heart, which no longer wanted to beat, was choking him like a
halter. The Mayor Chamberlain dared to ask him: “Do you want us, Lord, to make
a statue of your sepulcher?”
The King, sincere and
contemptuous of all human vanities, gave him this reply: “Let my life and my
works be my sepulcher and statue!”
Don Remondo, the other
priests of Santa María and the friars of the monasteries of Seville remained in
the royal chamber. After having bid final farewell to all those whom he loved
and associated with in this life, now these religious were the only companions
that he wanted in this supreme hour. On a small table at his bedside was the
Virgin of the Battles, helping him to win this last one. Suddenly Ferdinand
looked fixedly on high, his face transformed by an ineffable happiness that
swept away the pain of his final agony. He was like this for some time, and the
churchmen surrounding him even believed he had died. Coming back from his
ecstasy, he smiled joyously and said to them: “The hour has come…give me the
candle!”
Lifting his eyes, he
continued speaking to God: “Lord, Thou gavest to me a kingdom I did not have
and more honor and power than I deserved. Thou gavest me life as long as it was
Thy pleasure. Lord, I give Thee thanks; and I surrender to Thee and deliver to
Thee the kingdom Thou gavest me, with the improvements that I was able to
achieve, and I offer Thee my soul.” Then he looked at those present. “If,
through my fault, you have any complaint, please forgive me for it.”
Shedding many tears they
answered: “We pray to God to forgive you and know that you depart forgiven by
us.”
Then he took the candle
with both hands, and somehow found strength in his moral energy to lift it on
high while he said: “Lord, naked I came out of my mother’s womb which was the
earth, and naked I offer myself to her; and, Lord, receive my soul in the
company of Thy servants.” He lowered the candle and adored it as representative
of the Holy Ghost.
The sounds of his final
agony began. Perspiration made his hair adhere to the livid forehead, and large
drops fell and soaked the pillows. Their voices dulled by tears, the choir
intoned the Litany of the Saints. Toward the end, Ferdinand fixed his sight on
that point where heaven opened for him.
“Sing the Te Deum!”
he ordered in a rapture of joy.
What was he seeing? Was it
the angels and saints whom God was sending to receive him? Was it his Lady Holy
Mary? Or the Eternal King Jesus Christ coming to receive his knight? Don
Ferdinand very simply and gently lowered his eyes, wishing to lock forever in
its pupils that last and sweetest vision of his life. The purple face became
white, the fine whiteness of ivory; the lips remained half-open with an
expression of both supreme desire and ineffable enjoyment…. The holy King Don
Ferdinand was entering the last and noblest of all of his conquests, the
Kingdom of Heaven. “Te Dominum confitemur,” the choir continued
singing near his body.
And there above the white
roofs of Seville, in the star-filled sky of that May night, they say the angels
were heard singing a song that human ears had never before heard.
Sr. Maria del Carmen
Fernández de Castro Cabeza, A.C.J., The Life of the Very Noble King of
Castile and León, Saint Ferdinand III (Mount Kisco, N.Y.: The Foundation
for a Christian Civilization, Inc., 1987), pp. 272-278.
Short Stories on
Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 181
Nobility.org Editorial Comment: —
Prof. Plinio Correa de
Oliveira sustained that the full expression of nobility is only found within
the Catholic faith.
This post on St. Ferdinand helps understand why this is so.
A noble lives a life of sacrifice in the furtherance of the common good of his
people. What can possibly inspire him to this supreme self-abnegation better
than the example of Our Divine Savior, who suffered everything for our
redemption, to open for us the gates of Heaven?
Our Lord was St. Ferdinand’s supreme inspiration and reference point in life.
May his example help us and our leaders today, “to try hard to do good and be
good,” as St. Ferdinand instructed his eldest son and heir, the future
Alphonsus X, the Wise.
SOURCE :
http://nobility.org/2012/05/28/saint-ferdinand-death/
San Ferdinando III Re di Leon e di Castiglia
1198 - 30 maggio 1252
Figlio di
Alfonso IX re di León e Berenguela di Castiglia, fu governatore modello dai
solidi principi cristiani. Nel1217, all'età di 18 anni, ereditò la Castiglia,
la terra di sua madre e nel 1230 il León, quella di suo padre. In questo modo
unificò i due regni. Re prudente, si circondò sempre di persone fidate, con cui
si consultava per le questioni più problematiche e urgenti. Di Ferdinando erano
note anche la profonda devozione alla Madonna e la grande umiltà. Si sposò in
prime nozze con Beatrice di Svezia (1219) e poi con Maria de Ponthieu (1235).
Dalle due unioni nacquero complessivamente tredici figli. Ma la storia ricorda
Ferdinando anche per le guerre contro i saraceni che gli permisero di
riconquistare i regni di Cordova, Siviglia, Jaén e Murcia. Nel 1221 il sovrano
fondò la cattedrale di Burgos, si deve a lui anche l'ampliamento
dell'università di Salamanca. Morì il 30 maggio 1252 e fu sepolto nella
cattedrale di Santa Maria a Siviglia. È stato canonizzato da Papa
Clemente X il 4 febbraio 1671. (Avvenire)
Patronato: Ingegneri
Etimologia: Ferdinando = guerriero audace, dal tedesco
Martirologio Romano: A Siviglia in Spagna, san Ferdinando III, che, re
di Castiglia e León, fu saggio amministratore del suo regno, cultore di arti e
scienze e solerte nella diffusione della fede.
San
Ferdinando nacque nel 1198 da Alfonso IX, re di León, e da Berenguela di
Castiglia. Con lui si unirono definitivamente i due regni della penisola
iberica, senza guerre e spargimenti di sangue come spesso capita in simili
circostanze. Tale unione fu infatti dettata dal matrimonio fra i suoi genitori:
la morte prematura di Enrico I di Castiglia nel 1217 aveva inaspettatamente
portato la corona castigliana alla sorella Berenguela, la quale, con grande
prudenza e sagacia, volle cederla spontaneamente al giovane figlio Ferdinando,
nel corso di una grande assemblea tenutasi a Valladolid. Fu così che nel luglio
1217 egli venne finalmente riconosciuto quale sovrano dai nobili castigliani.
Nel 1230 prese anche possesso del regno di León, superati non pochi ostacoli
derivanti dalle disposizioni testamentarie del padre, che poco prima della
morte, aveva designato eredi universali le figlie Sancia e Dolce.
L’unione definitiva fra i due regni di Castiglia e di León costituì uno dei
meriti più gloriosi della vita di Ferdinando: preparata accuratamente dalla
madre, favorita dalla gerarchia ecclesiastica ed appoggiata dai papi Innocenzo
III ed Onorio III, tale unione annullò definitivamente una delle più frequenti
cause di attrito tra i regni spagnoli e si rivelò vincente nella lotta contro
il comune nemico, cioè l’Islam a quel tempo penetrato nel continente europeo.
Ferdinando convolò a nozze prima con Beatrice di Svevia (nota anche come Beata
Beatrice de Suabia) nel 1219 e poi, rimasto vedovo, con Maria de Ponthieu nel 1235:
da queste felici unioni nacquero ben tredici figli. Questa politica
matrimoniale instaurò strette relazioni con la casata imperiale di Germania e
con quella reale di Francia, tanto che il primo matrimonio diede al figlio,
Alfonso X il Saggio, fondamento giuridico per aspirare addirittura al trono
germanico.
L’aspetto più rilevante del regno di Ferdinando III è però costituito dalla
cosiddetta “Riconquista”: armato cavaliere a Burgos nel 1219 e riappacificati
all’interno i suoi regni, consacrò per trenta lunghi anni tutta la sua attività
bellica alla lotta contro gli invasori musulmani, assumendo quale suo scopo non
soltanto la completa liberazione della Spagna, ma anche il riuscire a
schiacciare il potere nemico, aspirazione suprema tanto delle crociate quanto
del pontificato. La riconquista di città e fortezze importanti quali Baeza,
Jaén, Martos, Córdoba e Siviglia meritarono al sovrano l’appellativo di
“Conquistatore dell’Andalusia”. Di pari passo si procedeva anche alla
restaurazione religiosa e grazie alle generose donazioni elargite da re
Ferdinando vennero restaurate le diocesi di Baeza-Jaén, Córdoba, Siviglia,
Cartagena e Badajoz.
L’impegno di questo santo sovrano nella lotta contro l’Islàm fu riconosciuto e
premiato dalla Chiesa di Roma con il riconoscimento del diritto di patronato,
benché limitato ad alcuni benefici, delle sedi restaurate. Ebbe inoltre facoltà
di spendere per la “Riconquista” il ricavato della vigesima, raccolto dai
collettori pontifici in Spagna per la crociata orientale, ed al medesimo scopo
gli venne concesso il tributo delle “terze reali”, consistenti in una terza
parte dei beni ecclesiastici destinata all’edificazione delle chiese. Tutto
ciò, insieme alla frequente concessione di indulgenze mediante l’equiparazione
dei crociati spagnoli a quelli orientali, permise a San Ferdinando di
ingrandire il regno di Castiglia, ormai definitivamente egemone sugli altri
stati della penisola iberica, e di rivelarsi un governante modello, dai sani
principi cristiani, sagace ed abile nelle trattative.
Il regno di Murcia si arrese mediante un trattato firmato da suo figlio, pattuì
una tregua con il re moro di Granada, organizzò la marina castigliana riuscendo
così ad avanzare trionfalmente lungo il Guadalquivir. Intransigente con gli
eretici, per contro fu però sempre generoso e magnanimo verso i vinti,
tollerante nei confronti dei giudei ed ubbidiente alle indicazioni ricevute
dalla Chiesa. Liscrizione sul suo sepolcro in quattro lingue, ebraico, arabo,
latino e castigliano, è la prova tangibile di come il sovrano seppe
accattivarsi pienamente l’unanime rispetto.
Re prudente, fu sempre affiancato da un consiglio di dodici persone circa gli
affari gravi ed importanti del suo regno. Al fine di governare in pace e
giustizia i suoi sudditi, intraprese la redazione di un codice di leggi,
ultimato poi da suo figlio. Incrementò le scienze e le arti, avviando
l’università di Salamanca, proteggendo quella di Valencia e lo Studio Generale
di Valladolid. Contribuì economicamente all’edificazione delle nuove cattedrali
di Leon, Burgos e Toledo, e riportò a Compostella le campane che Almansur aveva
rubato. Accolse in Spagna i Francescani, i Domenicani ed i Trinitari, ordini
allora nascenti.
Oltre che quale re magnanimo ed invincibile capitano, Ferdinando si rivelò
esemplare anche semplicemente quale uomo. Seppur in mezzo alle glorie del mondo
riuscì a coltivare un’intensa religiosità ed una particolare devozione alla
Madonna, nonchè dimostrarsi sempre grato al Signore delle sue vittorie ed umile
sino al punto di chiedere la pubblica penitenza. Con edificante umiltà domandò
perdono mentre gli venne amministrato il Viatico, che volle ricevere in
ginocchio nonostante la grave infermità. Considerò il suo regno quale dono
divino e perciò lo offerse al Signore unitamente alla sua anima il 30 maggio
1252, pronunziando prima di spirare queste parole: “Signore, nudo uscii dal
ventre di mia madre, che era la terra, e nudo mi offro ad essa; o Signore,
ricevi la mia anima nello stuolo dei tuoi servi”.
San Ferdinando III, re di Lèon e Castiglia, sino ad oggi è stato l’unico
sovrano spagnolo ad essere ritenuto dalla Chiesa meritevole della gloria degli
altari e tutti i cronisti, persino l’arabo Himyari, concordano nel
riconoscergli purezza nei costumi, prudenza, eroismo, generosità, mansuetudine
ed un innato spirito di servizio nei confronti del suo popolo. Furono proprio
cotante virtù, unite al saggio governo dei suoi regni, a santificare la sua
vita raggiungendo una tale perfezione morale da costituire un vero modello di sovrano
e governante cristiano.
Il suo culto, inizialmente limitato alla città di Siviglia, fu poi esteso alla
Chiesa universale: nel 1629 ebbe inizio il processo di canonizzazione, volto a
dimostrare il suo culto immemorabile, la veridicità di molti miracoli e
l’incorruzione del suo corpo, finchè il 4 febbraio 1671 fu finalmente
canonizzato da Papa Clemente X. L’arma dei genieri dell’esercito lo elesse suo
patrono, ma anche i carcerati, i poveri e i governanti lo invocano loro
speciale protettore. L’iconografia lo raffigura sempre giovane, senza barba,
con i classici attributi reali quali corona, scettro e sfera, a volte anche con
una statuetta della Madonna che portava con sé nelle sue campagne militari o
con una chiave in mano in ricordo di quella consegnatagli dal re moro dopo la
conquista di Siviglia.
Autore: Fabio
Arduino
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/55200
