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Raymond
belonged to the noble Lull family and was born at Palma on the island of
Mallorca in 1236. At a very early age he became a page at the royal court; and
before he was 30 years old he had been advanced to the position of marshal and
high steward to King James of Mallorca.
For several years he followed the lead of other
courtiers, serving the world and vanity. But God in His mercy soon led him
along a better path. On the feast of St. Francis he heard a bishop portray in
vivid terms the contempt of the world and the love of Christ with which the
Poverello was imbued. For some time past Raymond had perceived in himself the
desire for nobler things than human honors. So he recognized in the bishop's
sermon the call of God to forsake all things and to win for Christ the
infidels on the northern coast of Africa.
Without hesitation Raymond followed the call. He
resigned his offices, left the royal court, and founded a college in which
missionaries, particularly those who belonged to the Order of Friars Minor,
should receive the necessary training in the languages of northern Africa. He
himself joined the Third Order of St. Francis, and for nine years retired to
the solitude of Mt. Randa in order to prepare himself by prayer and study. God
favored him with much heavenly inspiration and granted him extraordinary
knowledge so that, in spite of his numerous undertakings he was able to write
admirable things about the most difficult questions in philosophy and
theology.
Raymond then made long journeys to Rome, Avignon,
Montipellier, Paris, and Vienne, in order to interest the Holy Father and the
various potentates in the work of conversion and the founding of seminaries
for missionaries.
In 1314, at the age of 79 he himself undertook a
missionary expedition to Africa. It was destined to be his last journey. While
preaching the Faith of Christ in the public square at Bougie, a group of
fanatical Mussulmans seized him and stoned him. He was bleeding from countless
wounds and left for dead in the market place. Genoese merchants took him
aboard their ship in order to give him burial in his own country. During the
voyage Raymond regained consciousness for a time, but when the ship arrived
near Mallorca, he breathed his last.
A very great concourse of people gathered for his
burial in the Franciscan church at Palma in Mallorca where he had joined the
Third Order. Soon miracles were reported as occurring at the grave of the
glorious martyr. Pope Leo X beatified him, and Mallorca chose him as its
special patron.
ON THE GREAT VALUE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH
1. As soon
as the eyes of Blessed Raymond were opened by the word of God and interior
grace, he perceived that all material things are nothing when compared with
the inestimable treasures of the Christian Faith. For 9 years he retired into
solitude in order to make a thorough study of the Faith by reading religious
books, by meditation and prayer, and he spent his great fortune, and even life
itself, in order to bring this precious blessing to others. St. Augustine held
the Faith in like regard when he said: "No amount of wealth, no treasure, no
honor, no worldly advantage is greater than the Christian Faith." Faith alone
teaches us the true value of things; for worldly knowledge is subject to
error. Whatever the Christian Faith teaches is infallible truth, for "he
believes in the Son of God, who has the testimony of God in himself" (1 John
5:10). This testimony alone indicates the true value of all that is material
and eternal. He who judges these things in any other way is eternally
deceived. -- Have you valued your Faith accordingly and revered it as a
teacher?
2. Consider that the Christian Faith is also the greatest
consolation in all our earthly sorrows. Here on earth it often happens, and
God's wisdom often arranges it thus, that an honest and God-fearing Christian
is visited with great troubles and difficulties and misfortunes, while
unbelievers and the godless seem to fare well and everything they undertake
seems to succeed. But if you are deeply imbued with the Christian Faith you
will recognize in all the sorrow that comes your way the seeds of a rich
harvest which awaits you in eternity. Filled with interior consolation, you
will then say with the Apostles: "I know whom I have believed, and I am
certain that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him, against
that day" (2 Tim 1:2). If calumny and persecution come upon you, and it
appears that the whole world has conspired against you, but you adhere firmly
to the principles of the Christian Faith, you may say confidently: "This is
the victory which overcomes the world, our faith (1 John 5:4). -- Thank God
for the gift of the Christian Faith. Have you used it well in the time of
sorrow?
3. If the Christian Faith is so inestimable a blessing, how
concerned should we be to preserve it without stain and to strengthen it! Our
Faith is weakened and often lost through association with unbelievers, through
the reading of literature that is hostile to the Faith, through conceit and
adverse criticism of the truths of our Faith. Be on your guard, therefore, to
avoid these snares, and pray often and fervently that God may preserve the
Faith in you and permit you to be more and more imbued with it.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
O God, who didst adorn
Blessed Raymond, Thy martyr, with zeal for the salvation of souls and the
spread of the Gospel, grant us, Thy servants, that through his intercession
and mediation we may faithfully preserve unto death which we have received in
Thy grace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
from:
The Franciscan Book
of Saints, ed. by
Marion Habig, ofm., © 1959 Franciscan Herald
Press
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