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Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.
Date: 1507.
Rome, Italy.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Nicholas of Tolentino (Italian:
San Nicola da Tolentino, Spanish:
San Nicolás de Tolentino) (
circa 1246 – 10 September 1305), known as the Patron of Holy Souls, was an Italian
Saint and
Mystic.
Nicholas Gurrutti was born at
Sant'Angelo in Pontano, in Italy, in what was then the
March of Ancona. He was the son of parents who had been childless into middle age. Compagnonus de Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani, Prayed at the Shrine of
Saint Nicholas of Myra for his
Intercession, and, when Amata became
pregnant, they named their son after the Saint.
A studious, kind and gentle youth, at the age of sixteen Nicholas became an
Augustinian Friar and was a student of the Blessed Angelus de Scarpetti. A
Monk at the
Monasteries at
Recanati and
Macerata, as well as others, he was Ordained in 1270, at the age of twenty-five, and soon became known for his preaching and teachings.
Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.
Nicholas, who had had Visions of Angels reciting "
to Tolentino", in 1274 took this as a sign to move to that City, where he lived the rest of his life. Nicholas worked to counteract the decline of Morality and Religion, which came with the development of City Life in the Late-13th-Century.
On account of his kind and gentle manner, his Superiors entrusted him with the daily feeding of the Poor, at the Monastery Gates, but, at times, he was so free with the Friary's provisions that the Procurator begged the Superior to check his generosity.
Once, when weak after a long Fast, he received a Vision of The
Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint
Augustine, who told him to eat some bread, marked with a Cross, and dipped in water. Upon doing so, he was immediately stronger. He started distributing these rolls to the ailing, while Praying to Mary, often curing the sufferers; this is the origin of the Augustinian custom of Blessing and distributing Saint Nicholas Bread.
Church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine,
Bronx, New York,
United States of America.
In Tolentino, Nicholas worked as a peacemaker in a City torn by strife between the
Guelphs and Ghibellines, who, in the conflict for control of Italy, supported the
Pope and the
Holy Roman Emperor, respectively. He ministered to his flock, helped the Poor and visited prisoners. When working wonders, or healing people, he always asked those he helped to "say nothing of this", explaining that he was just God's instrument.
During his life, Nicholas is said to have received Visions, including Images of Purgatory, which friends ascribed to his lengthy Fasts. Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory was the outstanding characteristic of his Spirituality. Because of this, Nicholas was proclaimed Patron of the Souls in Purgatory, in 1884, by Pope Leo XIII.
Towards the end of his life, he became ill, suffering greatly, but still continued the
Mortifications that had been part of his Holy Life. Nicholas died on 10 September 1305.
Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.
Patron of The Holy Souls.
There are many tales and legends that relate to Nicholas. One says that the devil once beat him with a stick, which was then displayed for years in his Church. In another, Nicholas, a vegetarian, was served a roasted fowl, over which he made the Sign of the Cross, and it flew out a window. Nine passengers on a ship, going down at sea, once asked Nicholas' aid and he appeared in the sky, wearing the Black Augustinian Habit, radiating Golden Light, holding a Lily in his Left Hand, and, with his Right Hand, he quelled the storm. An Apparition of the Saint, it is said, once saved the burning Palace of the
Doge of Venice, by throwing a piece of Blessed Bread on the flames. He was also reported to have Resurrected over one hundred dead children, including several who had drowned together.
According to the Peruvian chronicler,
Antonio de la Calancha, it was Saint Nicholas of Tolentino who made possible a permanent Spanish settlement in the rigorous, high-altitude climate of
Potosí,
Bolivia. He reported that all children, born to Spanish colonists there, died in childbirth or soon thereafter, until a father dedicated his unborn child to Saint Nicholas of Tolentino (whose own parents, after all, had required Saintly intervention to have a child). The colonist's son, born on Christmas Eve, 1598, survived to healthy adulthood, and many later parents followed the example of naming their sons Nicolás.
Nicholas was Canonised by
Pope Eugene IV (also an Augustinian) in 1446. He was the first Augustinian to be Canonised. At his Canonisation, Nicholas was credited with three hundred Miracles, including three Resurrections.
English: The Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic.
(A statue of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino is on the Charles Bridge (see next photo, below.)
Español: Puente de Carlos una mañana temprano, antes de llenarse de turistas.
Français: Pont Charles a Prague.
Photo: 7 May 2006 (Upload Date).
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Remains of Saint Nicholas are preserved at the Shrine of Saint Nicholas, in the
Basilica di San Nicola da Tolentino, in the City of Tolentino, Province of
Macerata, in Marche, Italy.
He is particularly invoked as an Advocate for the Souls in Purgatory, especially during Lent and the month of November. In many Augustinian Churches, there are Weekly Devotions to Saint Nicholas, on behalf of the suffering Souls. 2 November, All Souls' Day, holds special significance for the devotees of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.
Pope
Saint Pius V did not include him in the
Tridentine Calendar, but he was later inserted and given 10 September as his Feast Day. Judged to be of limited importance worldwide, his Liturgical Celebration was not kept in the
1969 Revision of the
General Roman Calendar, but he is still recognised as one of the Saints of the
Roman Catholic Church.
Čeština: Sousoší Svatého Mikuláše Toletinského na Karlově mostě.
English: The statue of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino
on the Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic.
Photo: 31 July 2006 (Upload Date).
2006-07-31 19:50 Zp 1000×1500×8 (151101 bytes)
Sousoší Svatého Mikuláše Toletinského na Karlově mostě autor:Zp
(Wikimedia Commons)
A number of Churches and Oratories are dedicated to him, including
San Nicolò da Tolentino, in
Venice,
San Nicola da Tolentino agli Orti Sallustiani, in Rome, and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, in The Bronx, New York. In the
Philippines, the 16th-Century Church of San Nicolas de Tolentino, in
Banton, Romblon, was built in honour of him and his Feast Day is celebrated as the annual Biniray Festival, commemorating the devotion of the Island's Catholic inhabitants to Saint Nicholas during the Muslim raids in the 16th-Century.
In the Province of Pampanga, Philippines, is a 440-year-old Augustinian Church, which was founded in 1575 and built in his honour. A Second-Class Relic of the Saint is Venerated every Tuesday after Mass.
He is depicted in the Black Habit of the Hermits of Saint Augustine — a Star above him, or on his breast, a Lily, or a Crucifix, garlanded with Lilies, in his hand. Sometimes, instead of the Lily, he holds a vial filled with money or bread.
The 2012
Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Parish
Fiesta poster,
Macabebe, Pampanga Province,
Philippines.
Photo: 23 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.
Confessor.
Feast Day 10 September.
Double.
White Vestments.
Nicholas, called "of Tolentino", on account of his long sojourn at this place, received the Baptismal Name of the Holy Bishop of Myra, because he was born after a Pilgrimage, made by his parents to the tomb of the great Miracle-Worker at Bari.
Following the example of his Holy Patron, although only seven years old, he Fasted several times a week. Listening, one day, to a Sermon by a Preacher of the Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine, on contempt of the world, he determined to give up all he possessed (Gospel) and to enter that Order.
He is represented holding a Lily, because he was always a model of Innocence and Purity. He died in 1308.
Mass: Justus.
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