ST. BERNARDINE OF SIENA, OFM
St. Bernardine (1380-1444) is considered the foremost Italian missionary of the fifteenth century, the greatest preacher of his day, the Apostle of the Holy Name of JESUS, and the restorer of the Order of Friars Minor. He remains one of the most popular of all Italian saints.
A PROPHETIC VOCATION
In 1405, while preaching in the Piedmont region of Italy (north), our patron saint, St. Vincent Ferrer once suddenly interrupted his sermon to declare that there was among his hearers a young Franciscan who would be one day a greater preacher than himself, and would be set before him in honor by the Church. This unknown friar was St. Bernardine.
Bernardine was born of noble parents who had fervently prayed for a male son whom they could give back to God as a priest. At his birth, his parents consecrated him to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When he was six, his parents both died and left him an orphan to be raised by his aunts. From his early days he was extremely devoted to Our Lady, and he has always been numbered among the most fervent Marian souls from the sons of St. Francis. We might even call him a Doctor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He spent his youth in works of mercy and entered religion. For example, when still a youth, he undertook the charge of a holy old woman, a relation of his, who had been left destitute. She was blind and bedridden, and during her long illness could only utter the Holy Name. The Saint watched over her till she died, and thus learned the devotion of his life.
He had a reputation for being very devout and saintly. Each year his Catholic fervor grew under the tutelage of his pious aunt. She was however greatly surprised and saddened one day when Bernadine informed her that he had 'fallen in love.' So strong were his feelings that every day he wished to go see and visit his beloved. He told his aunt that she lived just outside the city gate and requested her permission. Reluctantly she gave her blessing. Yet she was also very curious as to who this girl could be who had so captivated her nephew's heart. She had after all been thoroughly convinced that he would one day become a priest. She secretly followed Bernadine the next day and saw him go outside the city gates where he knelt enraptured before a beautiful image of Our Lady in the glory of her Assumption. There he remained for a long time, motionless and with a radiant face. His aunt returned home more certain than ever that his priestly vocation remained intact.
In 1400 the plague devastated Siena and he came out of his life of seclusion and prayer to minister to the dying and take charge of a hospital. His efforts helped greatly and inspired many but also devastated his health, and he never fully recovered from this heroic effort. He was fully professed with the Franciscans in 1403 and ordained a priest in 1404.
APOSTLE OF THE HOLY NAME
Due to a stuttering defect, his success as a preacher at first seemed doubtful, but by the prayers and powerful intercession of Our Lady, this obstacle was miraculously removed. (I imagine to myself that perhaps a seraphim sent by our Lady or his spiritual father, the Seraphic Stigmatist, touched his tongue and healed him of this ailment, similar to Isaiah 6:7). Bernardine began an apostolate which lasted thirty-eight years. Cities vied for his presence and at times he preached to crowds of 30,000! One of his biographers wrote that "penitents flocked to him like ants." He ended many factions, healed divisions, denounced usury, and condemned the secular authorities for their vices and refusal to respect church authority. Numerous cities even reformed their laws to more faithfully observe the divine and ecclesiastical moral code, and these came to be called Riformazioni di frate Bernardino. He is even known as the "Apostle of Italy."
By his burning words and by the power of The Holy Name of Jesus, which he displayed on a tablet at the end of his sermons, he obtained miraculous conversions, and reformed the greater part of Italy. It is said he introduced this custom at Volterra in 1424. His sermons against gambling had ruined a local card maker's business, and so Bernadine encouraged the craftsman to inscribe the Holy Name on tablets of wood. This devotion became so popular that that businessman made a small fortune from this holy and pious craft.
One of the reasons why St. Bernadine's apostolate was so necessary at this time was on account of the Great Western Schism. Christendom had already suffered through the papacy being held 'captive' at Avignon and the possible (?) murder of several popes by political powers (if they were actually murdered remains a mystery of history though it is probable). Then there were currently two popes who had each excommunicated the other and then a third pope elected by the (false) Council at Pisa (near Bernadine's home town). This great weakening of the papacy was disastrous for all of society and had many ill-effects, not the least of which was the great lessening of morals and virtue in the local populace. People were understandably losing trust in the Church and consequently even in God. St. Bernadine's saintly example, his powerful preaching, his devotion to the Mother of God, and his spreading of the devotion to the Holy Name of JESUS helped curb and reverse much of this decadence. Surely we can see the hand of Divine Providence at work in giving this particular saint to this particular age.
GREAT SUFFERINGS
But St. Bernadine's success had to be purified, proven and exalted by the Cross. The Saint was denounced as a heretic and his devotion to the Holy Name as idolatrous by his jealous enemies - who were in fact religious themselves. Thus, his greatest trials and suffering came at the hands of churchmen and their betrayal made the pain even more terrible. The calumnies against him were so great, that Bernadine even had to appear before Pope Martin V, who received him coldly and forbade this devotion to the Holy Name until it was fully investigated. His sermons were also handed over to papal courts for the most intense scrutiny. Fortunately, St. John Capistrano came to his defense and fully vindicated him before Pope Martin V. (Martin V is the pope who was elected to finally at the Council of Constance to put an end to the Great Western Schism of three popes. San John Capistrano was a Franciscan friar known as the soldier saint, for he led a much smaller Christian force to defeat the Moselm Turks at Belgrade in 1456 when he was 70 years old!) In fact, the pope then ordered Bernadine to promulgate this devotion all over Rome and with greater zeal throughout the world. The pope even named him bishop of Siena but the Saint declined. He also declined the offer for several other bishoprics over the subsequent decade. For this reason, he is often depicted in his Franciscan habit, holding aloft the Holy Name, and with several miters at his feet. When Eugene IV became Pope, St. Bernadine's enemies renewed their malicious attacks against him, and once more the saint's innocence and integrity had to be vindicated by the highest authority in the world.
GREAT REFORMER
His reputation as a reformer was furthered by the fact that he helped bring about a great reform and renewal within the Orders of Friars Minor throughout Italy (Franciscans). This can perhaps best be illustrated by a simple numerical fact: When Bernadine joined there were only 130 Franciscans in Italy, by the time he died, the order included over 4,000 members in Italy alone! He was also elected as Vicar General of the Order in Italy and helped reform some 300 Franciscan convents. He was also perhaps the most instrumental individual in helping bring about a reconciliation with the schismatic Greeks at the Council of Florence (by a miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost he was able to address them in Greek).
Desirous to preach all over Italy, St. Bernardine convinced the Pope to accept his resignation as Vicar General (1442) and resumed his missionary efforts. At an advanced age, he chose to journey to the Kingdom of Naples, the one area of Italy that had yet to hear his voice. Yet by then he was so weak and beset by increasing infirmities, that he could no longer walk and had to make the journey riding upon an ass. A great fever ceased him and he died simply lying in the ground near the town of Aquila on Ascension Eve, 1444, while his Franciscan brethren were chanting the antiphon, Pater manifestavi nomen Tuum hominibus ... ad Te venio - "Father, I have manifested Thy Name to men... to Thee I come."
Miracles multiplied following his death and Pope Nicholas V canonized him in 1450. The Feast of the Holy Name commemorates at once his sufferings and his triumph. The Pope granted this feast to the Franciscans in 1530 and it was extended to the Universal Church in 1722.