ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 15th of September
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
BLESSED ROLAND, HERMIT
Blessed Rolandus (Orlandus) - who was descended from the noble family of the Medici - lived for 26 years as a hermit in the groves of Bargoni, Buffeto, Tabbiano and Salso, in what would later become the Duchy of Parma (Emilia).
HIS CLOTHING AND FOOD
Since his threadbare black robe became completely useless with time, he wove a skirt out of straw and leaves, which he later exchanged for a raw, unworked goatskin that he had found by chance.
His food consisted of herbs and fruits. If he could not find those in winter (since he had imposed on himself constant silence), he used signs whenever he had to go into the neighbouring villages to beg as much bread as he needed.
HE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE OPEN AIR
In wind and rain, snow and hail, heat and cold, he always lived in the open air, day and night.
One day the wife of Margrave Nicolaus Pallavicini and her companion found him in the forest, quite exhausted and near death. When the noble woman asked him whether he wanted a confessor, he asked her to send him the Carmelite priest, Dominicus de Dominicis.
HE MANAGED TO GO FOR CONFESSION AND RECEIVED HOLY COMMUNION
With difficulty he dragged himself to the church outside Bargoni, where he confessed the following day and also received Holy Communion.
At the persuasion of his pious confessor, the hermit still enjoyed some nourishment in order to preserve his life, consisting of meat broth, which kept him alive for 26 days. On September 15, 1386 he gave up his ghost.
When he died, the bells of Bargoni rang out of their own accord.
MANY MIRACLES HAPPENED AT HIS GRAVE
His body was solemnly taken to Busseto, a town not far from Fiorenzuola, and buried in the church there.
Many miracles happened at his grave and already in 1464, 78 years after his death, he was venerated as "Blessed".
His body was raised and buried in a chapel bearing his name.
HIS BIOGRAPHY
His biography, which was written by a contemporary and is kept in the Medicean Archives, is given above in short form (based on the Bollandists). Another "Life", published in Parma in 1784 (vita del beato Orlando de 'Medici, eremita), by Affo, contains his portrait, engraved from an old bas-relief: he is shown in prayer, clothed with animal skins.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints)
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