Saint of the day, August 31

Aug. 31 - St. Raymond Nonnatus  

Born: 1204

Died: August 31, 1240

Nationality: Spanish 

Vocation: priest 

Attributes: Mercedarian friar wearing a cardinal’s red mozzetta, monstrance, martyr’s palm branch 

Patronage: pregnant women, childbirth, newborn infants, and priests defending the seal of confession 

Canonization: 1657 by Pope Alexander VII

St. Raymond is called Nonnatus because in Latin, it means “not born” and explains the circumstance of his birth. He was born by a C-section when his father opened his mother’s womb with a dagger after she had died in childbirth. 

His father intended Raymond to manage one of his many farms, but Raymond was attracted to religious life. During his time working for his father, he loved to withdraw into solitude to pray. His father came to realize his son would not be a farmer and gave his permission for Raymond to enter the Mercedarians, or the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy. 

He was ordained in 1224 and sold his entire estate to buy the freedom of 233 Christians enslaved by the Moors in Valencia. In 1226, he traveled to North Africa to free another 140 slaves. Three years later, he returned to North Africa with another Mercedarian priest to free 228 more captives. 

In 1236, Raymond went back to North Africa to surrender himself as a hostage, subsequently enduring intense persecution. As a result of his preaching while in prison, his captors seared a hole through his upper and lower lips and placed a padlock on them to keep him from preaching. The padlock remained in place for 8 months until Raymond’s ransom was paid. 

He died at the age of 36 and is buried at the chapel where he loved to pray as a teenager. 

St. Raymond Nonnatus, pray for us!

Sources:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-raymond-nonnatus-580

https://aleteia.org/2016/10/04/meet-the-saint-who-was-not-born/