Saint Raymond of Penyafort
Today, January 8th, is the feast of Saint Raymond of Penyafort (1175-1275), one of the first Dominicans (officially known as the Order of Preachers) eventually becoming the third Master General of the Order (after Saint Dominic himself, and Jordan of Saxony), and a fellow Dominican with his even-more famous confrere, Thomas Aquinas, with whom he was contemporaneous (1225-1274). It was Raymond who encouraged Friar Thomas to write his Summa Contra Gentiles (Thomas’ ‘other’ Summa) for the conversion of the ‘Moors’ (Spanish Muslims).
Friar Raymond wrote a sort of Summa himself, the Summa de casibus poenitentiae, a handbook for confessors. As well, he helped found the Mercedarian Fathers, whose work was to ransom captures Christians from the Muslims, and was one of the primary authors of a new Constitution for his own Order of Preachers.
Saint Raymond is also renowned as one of the first modern compilers and codifiers of the Code of Canon Law, which before his time was scattered in numerous documents. The Code which he formulated, decreed by Pope Gregory IX (hence, known as the Decretals of Gregory IX), became the authoritative law of the Church for 700 years, until reformulated under the impetus of Pope St. Pius X and Benedict XV in 1917, then again under Pope Saint John Paul II in 1983. The current Code of Canon Law was promulgated that year on January 25, the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, as well as Rabbie Burns’ Day for us Scotsmen.
In his most famous miracle, Friar Raymond, as his confessor, had accompanied the king, James I of Aragon to the island of Majorca. Unbeknownst to Raymond, the king brought his mistress, so Raymond refused to say on the island. The king forbade him to leave, and threatened punishment to any captain who would take him aboard. So Friar Raymond put is cloak on the water, with one end tied to his walking staff, and sailed miraculously away, 160 miles across open ocean to Barcelona. The king later repented.
After a full and productive life well lived, Friar Raymond died in Barcelona on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th, 1275, less than a year after his confrere Thomas.
May Saint Raymond intercede for the Holy Father, the bishops and priests of God’s holy Church, to be led by the ‘good counsel’ that law should offer, the ultimate purpose of which, as the final code says, is the salvation of souls.
Here are the saint’s words from today’s Office of Readings, with which we will leave you for now:
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