BL. WILLIAM OF NAUROSE, HERMIT - 18 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 18th of May

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.

BL. WILLIAM OF NAUROSE, HERMIT 

Blessed Guilielmus [William] - who is also spelled Gulielmus, Guillelmus and Guillermus - is surnamed "of Naurose." He was born in 1287 at Toulouse. At the age of 19 he entered the order of Augustinian hermits and was appointed Lector of Theology. 

He strove with all zeal for his perfection, and to this end he read the lives of the saints whom he intended to imitate. In all monastic virtues he sought to reach the pinnacle of the possible, and with steadfastness conquered all internal and external obstacles, not the least of which were the manifold and severe temptations of the evil enemy. 

He was distinguished above all by great humility, wherefore God glorified him with various signs. He died on May 18, 1368 (according to Migne: 1369) at the age of 72. His body was raised fifty days after he had died and buried in a marble coffin. Many miracles took place at his tomb. He is called "saint" by the writers of his Order, but "blessed" by the Bollandists.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858 - 🎨 An Augustinian Hermit in a Landscape [Flemish School]; National Trust, Westwood Manor)