From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   August 31st - Saint Raymund Nonnatus   
   Religious of Our Lady of Mercy and Cardinal   
      
   Saint Raymund Nonnatus was born in Catalonia, Spain, in the year 1204.   
   Motherless from infancy, in his childhood he seemed to find pleasure only in   
   his   
   devotions and serious duties. He chose the Blessed Virgin for his mother,   
   almost   
   as soon as the light of reason made this choice available to him. His father,   
   perceiving in him an inclination to the religious state and unwilling to give   
   up   
   his son, took him from school and sent him to take care of a farm which he   
   owned   
   in the country. Raymund readily obeyed, and, in order to enjoy holy solitude,   
   kept the sheep himself and spent his time in the mountains and forests in holy   
   meditation and prayer. He found there an ancient hermitage containing a   
   portrait   
   of his Blessed Mother, and made this his asylum. There the devil found him and,   
   assuming the disguise of a shepherd, attempted to turn him away from his   
   devotions; but Raymund turned his back on his visitor and called Mary to his   
   assistance. The sole name of the Mother of God caused the demon to disappear,   
   and the hermit prostrated himself and blessed Her for Her assistance.   
      
   Some time afterward, he joined the new Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the   
   redemption of captives, and was admitted to profession at Barcelona by the holy   
   founder, Saint Peter Nolasco. Within two or three years after his profession,   
   he   
   was sent into Barbary with a considerable sum of money; in Algiers he purchased   
   the liberty of a great number of slaves. When all his treasure was exhausted,   
   he   
   gave himself up as a hostage for the ransom of others, according to the Rule of   
   his Order. This magnanimous sacrifice served only to exasperate the Moslems,   
   who   
   treated him with uncommon barbarity, until they began to fear that if he died   
   in   
   their hands, they would lose the ransom which had been asked for his   
   deliverance. A crier announced in the streets that anyone who mistreated him   
   would answer for it, if he died.   
      
   Therefore he was permitted to go abroad in the streets, which liberty he   
   utilized to comfort and encourage the Christians in chains, and to convert and   
   baptize certain Moslems. Learning of this, their pasha, furious, condemned him   
   to be impaled, but his barbarous sentence was commuted at the insistence of   
   those who had an interest in the ransom payments for the slaves he was   
   replacing. He underwent instead a cruel bastinade, but that torment did not   
   daunt his courage. So long as he saw souls in danger of perishing eternally, he   
   thought he had yet done nothing.   
      
   Saint Raymund had no more money to employ in releasing poor captives; and to   
   converse with those of the local beliefs on the subject of religion meant   
   death.   
   He enjoyed sufficient liberty nonetheless to continue the same endeavors, and   
   he   
   did so, hoping either for success or martyrdom. The governor, enraged, ordered   
   our Saint to have his lips pierced and padlocked, then to be imprisoned until   
   his ransom would be brought by members of his Order. He remained in jail for   
   eight months before his brethren arrived with the required sum, sent by Saint   
   Peter Nolasco.   
      
   Upon his return to Spain, he was nominated Cardinal by Pope Gregory IX, and the   
   Pope called him to Rome. The Saint was on his way, but had gone no farther than   
   Cardona when he was seized with a violent fever. He died on August 31, 1240, in   
   his thirty-seventh year. His face in death became beautiful and radiant like   
   that of Moses when he descended from the mountaintop, where he had spoken with   
   God. A heavenly fragrance surrounded his body, and cures were effected on   
   behalf   
   of those who came and touched him.   
      
      
   Reflection: This magnanimous Saint gave not only his substance but his liberty,   
   and exposed himself to the most cruel torments and death for the redemption of   
   captives and the salvation of souls. But we, alas! do we not, merely to gratify   
   our prodigality, vanity, or avarice, refuse to give even the superfluity of our   
   possessions to the poor, who for want of it are perishing with cold and hunger?   
   Let us not forget the terrible Judgment of the Last Day, awaiting those who   
   neglect their brethren in need. (Cf. Matt. 25:31-46)   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Be witnesses with me that I die a constant Roman Catholic and for Christ's   
   sake;   
   let my death be an encouragement to your going forward in the Catholic   
   religion.   
   -Saint Edmund Arrowsmith at his execution for the crime of being a priest in   
   England 1628   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world. St.   
   Matthew 28:20   
      
      
   <><><><><>   
   A prayer to be free from a sudden and unprovided death:   
      
   O most merciful Lord Jesus, by Thine agony and sweat of   
   Blood, by Thy precious death, deliver us, we beseech Thee,   
   from a sudden and unprovided death.  O most kind Lord   
   Jesus, by Thy most sharp and ignominious scourging and   
   crowning with thorns, by Thy holy Cross and bitter Passion,   
   by Thy loving-kindness, we humbly pray that Thou wouldst   
   not suffer us to die unprovided with Thy holy Sacraments.   
   O dearly beloved Lord Jesus, by all Thy labors and sorrows,   
   by Thy Precious Blood and sacred Wounds, by those   
   Thy last words on the Cross: " My God, my God, why hast   
   Thou forsaken me?" and those other: "Father, into Thy hands   
   I commend my spirit," we most earnestly beseech Thee to   
   deliver us from a sudden death.  Grant us, we pray, room for   
   repentance; grant us a happy passing in Thy grace, that so we   
   may be able to love Thee, praise Thee and bless Thee forever.   
   Amen.   
      
   Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   And remember-   
      
   'Be kinder than necessary;   
    For everyone you meet is   
    Fighting some kind of battle.'   
      
   'The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind.'   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)