Saint Raymond of Penyafort

Life story

Raymond was born around 1175 at Penyafort near Vilafranca del Penedès in Catalonia. He studied law at Bologna, a leading centre for legal studies, and taught there. Around 1219 he returned to Barcelona as a canon of the cathedral. In 1222 he joined the Dominicans, then a young order, and wrote works to guide confessors in handling moral cases.

In 1230 Pope Gregory IX called him to Rome as confessor and chaplain and assigned him to gather and reorganise the scattered texts of Church law. The result was the Decretals, published in 1234, which remained the foundation of Church law until the Code of Canon Law of 1917. In 1238 he was elected master general of the Dominicans but asked to resign after two years and returned to Catalonia.

There he stayed active, encouraging contact with Muslims and Jews through the study of Arabic and Hebrew, and tradition says he also urged Thomas Aquinas to write the Summa contra Gentiles. He worked with Peter Nolasco on the founding of the Mercedarians. Raymond died on 6 January 1275 at Barcelona. In 1601 Pope Clement VIII canonised him. He is honoured as patron of canon lawyers.

His long life, which reached about a hundred years, linked the universities of Bologna, the papal court and the Dominican houses of Catalonia. Later canonists regarded his collection as a model of orderly legal work, and his tomb in the cathedral of Barcelona became a place of devotion for the faithful.

Works and witness

• Studied and taught law at Bologna before becoming a Dominican in 1222
• Compiled the Decretals of Gregory IX, published in 1234
• Master general of the Dominicans from 1238 to 1240
• By tradition, urged Thomas Aquinas to write the Summa contra Gentiles
• Canonised by Pope Clement VIII in 1601

Patron of

Canon lawyers

Saints from the same country

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

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Encyclopaedia Britannica – Saint Raymond of Peñafort
• Liber Extra (Decretales Gregorii IX)

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