St. Raymond of Pennafort, January 23

The Saint who sailed away on his cloak!

From The Remnant

By Michael Matt

St. Raymond was born in the year 1175, at the Castle of Peña Forte in Catalonia. He was descended from a noble family with ties to the royal house of Aragon. He was educated first in Barcelona, and from 1195 to 1210 he taught canon law. 1210 he moved to Bologna, where he received doctoral degrees in both civil and canon law. He remained in Bologna until 1222, occupying the Chair of canon law at the university. He came to know of the newly founded Dominican Order there. He was attracted to it by the preaching of Blessed Reginald, prior of the Dominicans of Bologna. He received the habit at the age of 47, in the Dominican Convent at Barcelona, when he returned from Italy in 1222.

In 1230 St. Raymond was summoned to Rome by Pope Gregory IX, who appointed him Auditor of the Apostolic Palace, and the personal Confessor of the Pope. Knowing of his reputation in the study of law, the Pope asked him to help in rearranging and codifying canon law. At that time canon law was scattered in many documents. St. Raymond edited these various sources into one set of documents. Being pleased with Raymond's efforts, the pope announced the new publication in a Bull directed to the doctors and students of Paris and Bologna in September 1234, commanding that the work of Raymond alone should be considered authoritative, and should alone be used in the schools. His collection of canon law, known as the Decretals of Gregory IX, became the standard for almost 700 years. Canon law was only finally fully codified in 1917.

St. Raymond wrote a book for confessors. Where previous works had been list of sins and suggested penances, St. Raymond added commentary based on pertinent doctrines and laws of the Church. It is still widely consulted as an authoritative work on the subject.

St. Raymond served as the confessor for King James I of Aragon. Once when St. Raymond was on the island of Majorca to initiate a campaign to help convert the Moors living there, the king brought his mistress with him. St. Raymond told the king to send her away. The king refused, so St. Raymond told him he would leave for Barcelona. But the king threatened to punish any ship captain who dared to take him. St. Raymond went down to the seashore where he took off his long black Dominican cape and spread it over the white tunic and scapular. He then used his walking staff to make a mast, said farewell, and with the sign of the cross he pushed away from the shore and miraculously sailed away on his cloak. This event was seen by scores of sailors, who shouted in astonishment and urged him on. St. Raymond sailed the 160 miles to Barcelona in six hours, where his landing was witnessed by a crowd of amazed spectators. In awe of this miracle, King James I renounced his evil ways, did penance, and thereafter led a good life.

St. Raymond returned to Barcelona in 1236. He was elected Master of the Dominican Order by the General Chapter of 1238. He visited all of the houses of friars and nuns of the Order. He then wrote the Constitution of the Order, which included the option of resignation of the Master. When it was adopted by the next General Chapter of 1240, he took advantage of that option and resigned within two years.

Now free from office, he applied himself with renewed energy to the effort of converting Jews and Moors. To this end he encouraged St. Thomas Aquinas to write his great work Summa Contra Gentiles. To aid in the conversion effort, he instituted the teaching of Arabic and Hebrew in several houses of the friars.

St. Raymond lived as a simple monk for the rest of his life. He died in the year 1275 at the age of one hundred. He was buried in the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia in Barcelona. He was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1601.