St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest
Obligatory Memorial
He was born at Penyafort in Catalonia, Spain, near Barcelona, around the year 1175. He was among the greatest masters of theology and canon law of his age.
A priest of the Church of Barcelona, he entered the Order in 1222. Endowed with learning and gentleness of character, he shone with zeal in forming priests for their future ministry. For them he wrote a Summa filled with pastoral wisdom.
While living in Rome as confessor to Gregory IX, he was the first, at the pope’s command, to gather into one collection the decretals of the Roman Pontiffs in 1234.
Elected Master of the Order in 1238, the third after Jordan of Saxony, he freely resigned the office after two years and returned to Catalonia.
As superior of the Order, he showed himself to be an apostle full of boldness. He had at heart the apostolate among the Jews and supported missions in North Africa, both of the Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy and of other mendicants. Deeply concerned with dialogue with Islam, he encouraged missionaries setting out for this work to learn Arabic and the Qur’an.
He died in Barcelona on Jan. 6, 1275, almost 100 years old. Clement VIII enrolled him among the saints on April 29, 1601.
Proprium Officiorum Ordinis Praedicatorum ad Normam Decretorum Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II Instauratum Vincentii Couesnongle iussu editum, Editio typica, Sanctae Sabinae, Romae 1982.
