Our Patron: St Bernardine of Siena

Biography I:
St Bernardine, patron of our parish, was born September 8, 1380, in Massa Marittima, in the territory of Siena, Italy. His life was an example of holiness expressed in his love for God and his fellowman. During an outbreak of plague in 1400 he volunteered to care for the people who were sick, stopping only when he himself became ill. In 1402 he entered the Franciscan Order and was ordained in 1404.

Commissioned to preach in 1405, St. Bernardine is best remembered as an excellent preacher who drew very large crowds and who frequently focused his sermons on devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. 

To assist him in promoting such devotion, St. Bernardine designed a symbol which he displayed during his sermons. It consisted of an abbreviated form of the name of Jesus at the center, surrounded by a blazing sun.

Soon the symbol began to appear on buildings and in the homes where St. Bernardine had spoken. The use of his own symbol to promote devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus was disapproved of by some people of his time and charges of heresy were made against St. Bernardine. He was found innocent by Pope Martin V, testifying to the worthiness of his life and his chosen apostolate. 

St. Bernardine's tireless commitment to spreading the Good News to all people remained until the very end of his life. In 1444 he set out to preach in Naples, a location he had visited only briefly once before; en-route he fell ill with fever. He was taken to the convent of St. Francesco where he died on the Vigil of the Feast of the Ascension. He was canonized May 24, 1450, six years after his death. (From Saint Bernardine of Sienna Church Dedication Booklet)

Biography II :
Organizer, administrator and leader, a youthful Bernardine ran the local hospital in Tuscany, coping with the distresses of the plague at the close of the fourteenth century. He had been born into a prominent family and as a young man he was popular. When the plague struck his hometown, Bernardine went daily to the local hospital to care for the sick, and many of his friends came along to help. Remarkably, Bernardine did not succumb to the plague although some of the friends died. As the hospital administrators died off, Bernardine found himself running the entire operation.

He coped with the panic of the plague-ridden townspeople but when the epidemic diminished, he spent two years recovering from exhaustion. Even during this time, he took care of a sick elderly aunt. When she died, he was drawn to enter the Franciscan order in Siena. He found that the monastery in Siena was too close to his old friends, who wanted to go on enjoying his company whenever they wished. He must have had an extraordinarily attractive personality!

He changed venues to a “convent of strict observance” in Colombaio where he was professed as a Franciscan in 1403 and ordained as a priest in 1404. For several years, he studied and lived the life of a quiet monk behind the walls of the convent. In 1417, he was sent to Milan to help celebrate Mass and preach in one of the parish churches there.

Here, Bernardine came into his real ministry. News of his exciting sermons spread throughout what is now Italy, and soon he had invitations to travel and preach all over the peninsula. He responded, bringing his message of zeal for our God to hoards of people. They walked miles in the Mediterranean sun to hear him.

We have access to many of his sermons, because one of his listeners became his scribe. This unnamed man would copy Bernardine’s words on a wax tablet and then go home and transcribe them onto vellum. Bernardine, no doubt happy to see this interest, and apparently secure in the action of the Holy Spirit through him, would stop and let the man catch up from time to time during his homilies in the village square!

Like his savior, Jesus, he attracted jealousy from some members of the church establishment. These men complained to the Pope, who commanded Bernardine to stop preaching until his case could be presented and found to be orthodox. How hard it must have been to be silenced! But after his name was cleared, he was more popular than ever. His message had been validated to the scrupulous as well as to those who flocked after him because he was a novelty.

In 1430, he was elected vicar general of the Franciscans of the Strict Observance. During his term of office, many Conventual monasteries, which enjoyed a looser rule, changed to the Strict Observance to benefit from Bernardine’s diplomacy and wisdom. He added scholarship to their routine insisting upon introducing theology and the study of canon law. He loved knowledge.

He felt that preaching was his real calling, and, in 1442, petitioned the Pope that he might leave his position as vicar general and resume his travels. In 1444, he gave a marathon homily, speaking for 50 hours in his birthplace. He became ill, but set out for the Kingdom of Naples. He died on the trip.; His feast day is May 20. This man was regarded as so holy that he was canonized a saint within six years of his death.

Bernardine left a lasting symbol to the Church because of his devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Strangely, no one is sure what the acronym stands for, but the IHS surrounded by a sun symbol found in many Catholic Churches, was St. Bernardine’s visual aid to his listeners.

Links

Profile from New Advent
Profile from Catholic Online | Saints and Angels by Terry Matz
Columbia Encyclopedia
The Saints, by John Coulson
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
New Catholic Dictionary 
The Franciscan
Detailed biography from the Franciscan
The Franciscan's ECard
The Fatima Network
Ave Maria Rosaries
Catholic Pages Dot Com
St Bernardine Holding the Staff
A reading from the sermons of St Bernardine of Siena (Sermon 2, On St Joseph)