January, 2006
Catholic Spirit - January, 2006
St. Raymund of Penafort
Mary Lou Gibson is a parishioner of St. Austin Parish in Austin. She lives with two cats and a dog. She loves to garden and do various types of research.
Many people believe that age is only a state of mind. This was certainly true for St. Raymund of Peñafort, because he lived his retirement years with purpose and great accomplishments. His long life of almost 100 years began in 1175 at Peñafort in Catalonia, Spain. His family descended from the counts of Barcelona and was allied to the kings of Aragon.
Raymund, a brilliant student, was teaching philosophy at Barcelona when he was 20, according to editor Michael Walsh (“Butler’s Lives of the Saints”). Some years later, he went to Bologna where he earned a doctorate in canon and civil law. Raymund spent the next several years in study and preaching for the conversion of the Moors and Jews.
In Bologna Raymund met Dominic of Guzman, founder of the Order of Preachers, who influenced Raymund to join the Dominicans. So at age 47, Raymund made a career change moving from the academic life into the religious life of the Dominicans. He became famous for his preaching, reported John Delaney (“Dictionary of Saints”) and traveled all over Spain, meeting those Christians who had returned from Moorish slavery. Delaney noted that Raymund preached the Spanish crusade that freed Spain from the Moors. Author David Hugh Farmer (“Oxford Dictionary of Saints”) reported that Raymund has often been claimed as the joint founder of the Mercedarian Order. This group’s main work was the redemption of captives from the Moors.
In 1230, he was called to Rome by Pope Gregory IX to act as the pope’s confessor. The pope also asked him to work on a project to bring together all the decrees of popes and councils that were issued since the last collection by Gratian in 1150. This project involved the codification of more than 2,000 decrees and took Raymund three years to complete. The finished product comprised five volumes, entitled “Decretals,” and became the foundation of the Code of Canon Law. This was the standard reference for church regulations until 1917, according to Bangley.
Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers (“Saints Preserve Us!”) reported that these papal decrees became the “Immutable Laws of God” and were part of the planning for the Inquisition.
Raymund’s other major written work was the “Summa de Poenitentia,” which he compiled between 1223 and 1238. According to Delaney, this work had a profound influence on the development of the penitential system of the Middle Ages.
His next career move came when he was 60, when he became archbishop of Aragon. After only a couple of years, he resigned this post due to illness. His retirement was again cut short when he was asked to be the third master general of the Dominicans. For the next few years, Raymund visited all the houses in the order, making the journey on foot.
He also began work to revise the order’s constitution. One of the provisions which he included was that the head of the order could resign. This constitution remained in effect until 1924. Shortly after the constitution was approved, Raymund resigned the generalship. He was now 65 years old.
For the next 34 or more years of his retirement, Raymund remained active trying to convert the Moors and Jews in Spain to Christianity. To this end, he encouraged Thomas Aquinas to write the “Summa contra Gentiles,” a summary of arguments to be used against the teachings of the Muslims and Jewish rabbis. Friar Gregory Anderson wrote in “The Dominican Story” that this was especially important because these Muslim and Jewish leaders were very learned in Spain at the time. Raymund also managed to get the study of Hebrew and Arabic taught in several Dominican houses.
There is one legend that has come down through the ages that puts Raymund in a lighter and more bizarre role. As the story goes, he was invited by King James of Aragon to the Island of Majorca to preach. While there, Raymund noted that the king was keeping company with a woman who was not his wife. Raymund rebuked the king and asked him for a ship to take him back to the mainland. But, according to Kelly and Rogers, the king would not give him a ship. So Raymund, putting his trust in the Lord, went down to the sea and laid his cloak on the surface of the Mediterranean. He tied a corner of it to his bishop’s staff and sailed along on it for six hours until he reached Barcelona. There is a church in Barcelona named for St. Raymund that marks the place where he came ashore.
Raymund was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1601. His feast day is Jan. 7 and he is the patron of lawyers and law schools.