Saint Raymond Nonnatus

Life story

According to Mercedarian tradition, Raymond was born around 1200 or 1204 at Portell in Catalonia. The byname Nonnatus (Latin for not born) is tied to the story that he was delivered after his mother had died. Accounts differ on his parentage, and this is tradition rather than confirmed history.

He took the habit of the Mercedarians in Barcelona, an order founded to ransom Christians held captive by the Moors in North Africa. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia he was sent to Algiers, where he freed many captives, and when his money ran out he gave himself as a hostage. The tale of his lips being pierced with a hot iron and padlocked is traditional and cannot be verified. He returned to Spain in 1239.

He died at Cardona in 1240; sources give 26 or 31 August. Tradition says his body was laid on a blind mule, which carried it to the chapel where he had prayed as a boy. He is often painted in a cardinal's robe because later accounts, including the older Catholic Encyclopedia, say Pope Gregory IX made him a cardinal; modern historians doubt this. His name was entered in the Roman Martyrology in 1657 under Alexander VII; sources disagree on whether and when he was formally canonised.

Works and witness

• Took the Mercedarian habit in Barcelona
• Sent to Algiers to ransom captives
• When his money ran out, gave himself as a hostage
• Returned to Spain in 1239
• Died at Cardona in 1240

Patron of

Women in labour, People falsely accused

Saints from the same country

Saint Dominic, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Teresa of Ávila, Saint Francis Xavier

References

• Catholic Encyclopedia, "St. Raymond Nonnatus" (newadvent.org/cathen/12671b.htm)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.