SAINT FEAST DAY 7 JANUARY: ST RAYMOND OF PENNAFORD

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 7th of January

WELCOME!

SAINT RAYMOND OF PENNAFORD, PRIEST

Saint Raymond of Pennaford [Penyafort] was born at Barcelona of the noble family of Pennaford. He was diligent in prayer and the study of canon and civil law at Bologna, where he received his doctorate and interpreted the sacred canons with distinction.

DILIGENCE IN PRAYER

Bishop Berengarius made him a canon and provost of the church of Barcelona, and Raymond’s virtue, learning, and pleasant disposition made him outstanding.

DEVOTION TO OUR LADY

He strove to his utmost to promote devotion to Our Lady. At about forty-five, he became a Dominican. On his advice, his penitent, St Peter Nolasco, founded with James I of Aragon the order of Our Lady of Mercy, for the Ransom of Captives, for which Raymond wrote a very suitable rule.

LIFE AND WORK AS A DOMINICAN

By order of Gregory IX, he made a one-volume collection of the Papal decrees called the Decretals. He firmly refused the Archbishopric of Tarragon a and for two years administered his post as Master General of the Dominicans with great holiness.

MASTER GENERAL OF THE DOMINICANS

After resigning, he died in 1275 when almost one hundred years old. Clement VIII placed him among the saints.

Text from An Approved Translation of the Breviarium Romanum, Burns & Oates, London 1964

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Raymond may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.