Nicholas Gurrutti, who was to become much better known by the name of the modest Italian city where he spent most of his life, was born in 1245 in the small town of Sant’ Angelo in Pontano in the Marches of central Italy. As often happens in the stories of prophets and saints Nicholas’ parents, Compagnore and Amata, were childless and getting on in life. They made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Nicholas of Bari in southern Italy and prayed for a family. Their prayers were answered with at least three children born to them and in gratitude to their patron they named their first-born Nicholas. He grew up tall and pious but not very healthy, we are told.
There was an Augustinian religious community in the town at a time when several religious groups of an Augustinian tradition were being brought together by the Pope, in what became known as the Great Union of 1256, to form the new mendicant order of Augustinian friars. Nicholas was attracted by the life and ideal of the friars and was accepted as a novice. He made his religious profession in 1261 and was ordained priest in 1269. Little is known of his early years of ministry but he lived in several friaries round the Marches and was probably involved in popular missions in the new and growing towns of the area.
Then in 1275 he was assigned to the friary in Tolentino where he was to spend the remaining thirty years of his life. It was here he made his name as a saint and miracle-worker and Tolentino was the town whose name he would make famous throughout the Catholic world. It was a small city of some 2000 inhabitants at the time, most of them poor but some belonging to the new merchant classes then developing a new Europe which the friars – Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite and now Augustinian – set out to save.
In Tolentino Nicholas set out to live simply as a good Religious and priest. But for him there were no half measures. His complete dedication to prayer and penance was obvious to all, both in the friary and in the community at large. He seemed to observe more fast days than ordinary days and he rarely, if ever, touched meat. He even claimed, the story went, that it would show lack of faith to believe that God could not use bread as easily as meat to keep him healthy. Bread and water were frequently his normal diet. He would make do with three hours’ sleep a night, sometimes with a stone for a pillow and sacking for a blanket.
He subjected his body to severe traditional penances yet outwardly tried to live a normal community life, never missing the daily choir office even when ill or frail. In the «mendicant» tradition he would beg food for his community from the townspeople and always give a perfect example of poverty and detachment. Most of his day was spent in prayer, up to fifteen hours according to witnesses. Every morning he would spend three hours in the confessional in the friary church and many would come for his spiritual direction.
There were certainly times when his austerity worried his superiors and they endeavored to control any excess under religious obedience. Once when particularly frail from his fasting he was encouraged to eat some bread marked with a cross and soaked in water. He would later use such bread himself in ministering to the sick and so the Augustinian custom would later develop of marking his feast day with the blessing and distribution of the «breads of St Nicholas». As well as his work in the confessional and spiritual direction Nicholas became well known for his preaching – preaching regularly in the streets – and visits to the people in their homes, especially the sick, the poor and those who at a time of great change in society were losing contact with the Church.
A fellow-religious has left us this description of Nicholas’ ministry: «He was a joy to the sad, a consolation to the suffering, peace to the estranged, refreshment to those in toil, support for the poor, a healing balm for those in prison». This was the ministry the emerging city world of thirteenth century Europe needed. For this the mendicant orders of friars had been founded. In Nicholas the Augustinians would have a model and inspiration. For this reason St Nicolas of Tolentino became almost a founding father of the Augustinian Friars and they would carry his name and his inspiration wherever they went. Especially in his later years Nicholas had the fame of a healer and miracle-worker, many healing taking place precisely when Nicholas was himself a victim of bad health.
Like St Francis of Assisi, who lived only a quarter of a century before him and in a neighboring part of central Italy, Nicolas of Tolentino had many stories told about him that became part of popular piety, his own «little flowers». Once, when he was obviously showing the effects of his strict fasting some concerned townspeople brought him a pair of nicely roasted partridges for his dinner. Looking at them he ordered them «be on your way, continue your journey» before the birds flew off!
Shortly before his death Nicholas had a vision of a bright star which seemed to him to stop first over his birthplace, Sant’ Angelo, before making its way to Tolentino and resting over the friary chapel. When he reported the vision to the friars they understood its meaning and realised his death was near. The star continued to appear, especially when Nicholas was celebrating Mass in the chapel. Even years after his death crowds would gather in the hope of glimpsing the star of Nicholas on the anniversary of his death which took place on 10th September, 1305. Nicholas was canonized in 1446 and declared a «Protector of the Universal Church». He is buried in the basilica in Tolentino which bears his name.
Nicholas’ popularity with the faithful has not waned. The thousands of breads blessed and distributed in his name in so many places on his feast day every year testify to this. A very special element in such popular devotion to St Nicholas is his role as «Patron of the Souls in Purgatory», a title given him officially by Pope Leo XIII in 1884. The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory was formalized in Nicholas’ lifetime at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274. As a result, devotion to the Holy Souls and prayer on their behalf became important elements of popular piety. Two episodes in Nicholas’ own life-story linked him to this devotion. One was his fervent prayer for his own brother who had died assassinated in suspicious circumstances, the other the Masses and prayers he offered for a deceased friar he had known and who had appeared to him to plead for his help after showing him a vision of Purgatory.
Nicholas comes down to us today as a simple yet very special saint from the earliest days of the Augustinian Order who lived only for God and for his brothers and sisters.
There was an Augustinian religious community in the town at a time when several religious groups of an Augustinian tradition were being brought together by the Pope, in what became known as the Great Union of 1256, to form the new mendicant order of Augustinian friars. Nicholas was attracted by the life and ideal of the friars and was accepted as a novice. He made his religious profession in 1261 and was ordained priest in 1269. Little is known of his early years of ministry but he lived in several friaries round the Marches and was probably involved in popular missions in the new and growing towns of the area.
Then in 1275 he was assigned to the friary in Tolentino where he was to spend the remaining thirty years of his life. It was here he made his name as a saint and miracle-worker and Tolentino was the town whose name he would make famous throughout the Catholic world. It was a small city of some 2000 inhabitants at the time, most of them poor but some belonging to the new merchant classes then developing a new Europe which the friars – Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite and now Augustinian – set out to save.
In Tolentino Nicholas set out to live simply as a good Religious and priest. But for him there were no half measures. His complete dedication to prayer and penance was obvious to all, both in the friary and in the community at large. He seemed to observe more fast days than ordinary days and he rarely, if ever, touched meat. He even claimed, the story went, that it would show lack of faith to believe that God could not use bread as easily as meat to keep him healthy. Bread and water were frequently his normal diet. He would make do with three hours’ sleep a night, sometimes with a stone for a pillow and sacking for a blanket.
He subjected his body to severe traditional penances yet outwardly tried to live a normal community life, never missing the daily choir office even when ill or frail. In the «mendicant» tradition he would beg food for his community from the townspeople and always give a perfect example of poverty and detachment. Most of his day was spent in prayer, up to fifteen hours according to witnesses. Every morning he would spend three hours in the confessional in the friary church and many would come for his spiritual direction.
There were certainly times when his austerity worried his superiors and they endeavored to control any excess under religious obedience. Once when particularly frail from his fasting he was encouraged to eat some bread marked with a cross and soaked in water. He would later use such bread himself in ministering to the sick and so the Augustinian custom would later develop of marking his feast day with the blessing and distribution of the «breads of St Nicholas». As well as his work in the confessional and spiritual direction Nicholas became well known for his preaching – preaching regularly in the streets – and visits to the people in their homes, especially the sick, the poor and those who at a time of great change in society were losing contact with the Church.
A fellow-religious has left us this description of Nicholas’ ministry: «He was a joy to the sad, a consolation to the suffering, peace to the estranged, refreshment to those in toil, support for the poor, a healing balm for those in prison». This was the ministry the emerging city world of thirteenth century Europe needed. For this the mendicant orders of friars had been founded. In Nicholas the Augustinians would have a model and inspiration. For this reason St Nicolas of Tolentino became almost a founding father of the Augustinian Friars and they would carry his name and his inspiration wherever they went. Especially in his later years Nicholas had the fame of a healer and miracle-worker, many healing taking place precisely when Nicholas was himself a victim of bad health.
Like St Francis of Assisi, who lived only a quarter of a century before him and in a neighboring part of central Italy, Nicolas of Tolentino had many stories told about him that became part of popular piety, his own «little flowers». Once, when he was obviously showing the effects of his strict fasting some concerned townspeople brought him a pair of nicely roasted partridges for his dinner. Looking at them he ordered them «be on your way, continue your journey» before the birds flew off!
Shortly before his death Nicholas had a vision of a bright star which seemed to him to stop first over his birthplace, Sant’ Angelo, before making its way to Tolentino and resting over the friary chapel. When he reported the vision to the friars they understood its meaning and realised his death was near. The star continued to appear, especially when Nicholas was celebrating Mass in the chapel. Even years after his death crowds would gather in the hope of glimpsing the star of Nicholas on the anniversary of his death which took place on 10th September, 1305. Nicholas was canonized in 1446 and declared a «Protector of the Universal Church». He is buried in the basilica in Tolentino which bears his name.
Nicholas’ popularity with the faithful has not waned. The thousands of breads blessed and distributed in his name in so many places on his feast day every year testify to this. A very special element in such popular devotion to St Nicholas is his role as «Patron of the Souls in Purgatory», a title given him officially by Pope Leo XIII in 1884. The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory was formalized in Nicholas’ lifetime at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274. As a result, devotion to the Holy Souls and prayer on their behalf became important elements of popular piety. Two episodes in Nicholas’ own life-story linked him to this devotion. One was his fervent prayer for his own brother who had died assassinated in suspicious circumstances, the other the Masses and prayers he offered for a deceased friar he had known and who had appeared to him to plead for his help after showing him a vision of Purgatory.
Nicholas comes down to us today as a simple yet very special saint from the earliest days of the Augustinian Order who lived only for God and for his brothers and sisters.
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