The body of the holy patriarch, Saint Dominic, had been laid to rest, according to his own desire, in the Church of Saint Nicholas at Bologna, beneath the feet of his Brethren, and, in spite of continual prodigies and Divine favors granted to the faithful who prayed day and night at his tomb, his children allowed the sacred deposit to remain under the plain flagstone originally laid over it and took no steps for obtaining his canonization. Lest they should be thought to be seeking their own emolument under the appearance of piety, the Friars even broke and threw away the votive offerings brought by the people and would not permit any exterior marks of devotion to be exhibited. It was necessity which at length compelled them to undertake the first translation of the sacred relics. The ever-increasing numbers of the Community obliged them to enlarge the Convent, and to pull down the old church and build a new and more spacious one. To do this the tomb of Saint Dominic would have to be disturbed. They accordingly applied for the requisite permission to Pope Gregory IX., who was no other than the Saint’s old friend, Cardinal Ugolino. He joyfully granted the petition, at the same time administering a sharp rebuke to the Friars for their long negligence.

The solemn translation accordingly took place on Whit-Tuesday, May 24, 1233 A.D., during the General Chapter, which was held that year at Bologna. The Pope wished to have attended in person, but, being prevented from doing so, he deputed the Archbishop of Ravenna to represent him, in company with a number of other distinguished prelates. Three hundred Friars Preachers from all countries assembled to assist at this function, not without a secret fear on the part of some as to the state in which the sacred remains might be found, as they had long been exposed to rain and heat, owing to the dilapidated condition of the church. The opening of the tomb took place before daybreak, in the presence of Blessed Jordan, then Master-General of the Order, and the fathers of the Chapter, together with the Bishops, Prelates and Magistrates who were to assist at the ceremony. All stood round in silence while the Procurator, Father Rodolph of Faenza, raised the stone. Hardly had he begun to remove the earth and mortar that lay beneath an extraordinary odor became perceptible , which increased in power and sweetness as they dug deeper, until at length, when the coffin appeared and was lifted out of the grave , the whole church was filled with the perfume as though from the burning of some rich and precious gums. The bystanders knelt on the pavement, shedding tears and emotion as the lid was raised, and the exposed to their eyes.

It was the Master-General who raised the body of his beloved father and reverently laid it in a new coffin. The faithful were then admitted, and the Archbishop of Ravenna sang the Mass of the day, while the fragrance diffused from the open coffin flooded the whole of the sacred edifice. Blessed Jordan in his circular letter to the Order thus described the solemn function: “As the choir intoned the Introit, ‘Receive the joy of your glory, giving thanks to God, who was called you to the celestial kingdom,’ the Brethren in their gladness of heart took the words as if spoken from heaven. The trumpets sounded, the people displayed a countless multitude of tapers; and, as the procession moved along, there everywhere resounded the words, ‘Blessed be Jesus Christ!” He goes on to speak of the vast number of miraculous graces which were poured forth both before and after the ceremony. ‘Sight “he says , “was granted to the blind, power of walking to the lame, soundness to the paralyzed, speech to the dumb…..I myself saw Nicholas, an Englishman, who had long been paralyzed, leaping at this solemnity.”

The coffin was then laid in the marble tomb prepared for it. But eight days later, to satisfy the devotion of some distinguished persons who had not been present on the previous occasion. The holy remains were again exposed to view. Then it was that Blessed Jordan, taking the sacred head between his hands, kissed it, while tears of tenderness flowed from his eyes; and, so holding it, he desired all the fathers of the Chapter to approach and gaze at it for the last time. One by one they came and kissed the venerable relics. All were conscious of the same extraordinary fragrance; it remained on the hands and clothes of those who touched or came near the body. Nor was this the case merely when the grave was first opened. The tomb remained unclosed for fifteen days, during which interval it was guarded by officers appointed by the city magistrates; and all this times the same exquisite odor was sensible to all who visited the spot; and Flaminius, who lived three hundred years later, thus writes (1527 A.D.): “This divine odor adheres to the relics even to the present day.”

A second translation of Saint Dominic’s relics took place in the year 1267 A.D., when the holy body was removed to amore richly ornamented tomb. This translation, like the first, was made at a time of the General Chapter; and the head of the Saint, after being devoutly kissed by the Brethren and several Bishops who were present, was exposed to the veneration of the people from a lofty stage erected outside the Church of Saint Nicholas. The tomb was again opened in 1383 A.D., when apportion of the head was placed in a silver reliquary, in order the more easily to satisfy the devotion of the faithful. Finally, 1469 A.D., the remains of the Saint were deposited in the magnificently sculptured shrine in which they now rest, which is regarded as the masterpiece of Nicholas Pisano.

Saint Servatius was of noble birth, and he was renewed alike for his learning and sanctity. He became Bishop of Tongres in Belgium, which then formed part of Gaul, and in that capacity assisted at the Council of Sardica, where he strenuously defended the Catholic Faith against the Arians. He likewise stoutly resisted these heresies at the Council of Rimini, and labored to prevent the ill consequences which threatened the Church through their frauds and the weakness of the Bishops. Being sent by the tyrant Magnentius, together with Saint Maximin, Bishop of Treves, as ambassador to the Emperor Constantius, he was honorably entertained by Saint Athanasius at Alexandria.

Saint Gregory of Tours states that Saint Servatius foretold the invasion of Gaul by the Huns and implored the Divine mercy by watching. fasting, prayers and many tears to avert so great a calamity from the flock entrusted to his care. For this intention he undertook a penitential pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Peter in Rome. As he was weeping and praying there, the Prince of the Apostles appeared to him and thus addresses him: “Wherefore dost thou importune me? The Lord has decreed that the Huns should enter Gaul and lay it waste in a terrible manner. Take my counsel, therefore; lose no time; set thy house in order, prepare thy grave, make ready a clean winding-sheet. Behold , thou shalt depart this life and shalt not witness the evils which the Huns are to bring upon Gaul, as the Lord our God hath spoken.”

 

The holy Bishop, therefore returned in all haste to his diocese, and with many tears imparted the sad tidings to his heart-broken flock. “Holy Father , do not abandon us,” they exclaimed; “Good Shepherd, forget us not.” Very shortly afterwards he fell ill, as Saint Peter had foretold, and closed his saintly life by a holy death on May 13th, 384 A.D., after an episcopate of thirty-seven years. It is recorded that when all the country round was white with snow his tomb at Maestricht always remained free from it until the time a church was raised over his holy remains.

 

Saint Servatius was declared Protector of the Dominican Order in consequences of the following circumstances. In the fourteenth century the Church and the Order of Preachers were suffering bitter persecution from the schismatical Emperor, Lewis of Bavaria. Learning that the General Chapter was convoked to meet in his dominions , at the city of Cologne, 1330, A.D., this prince secretly plotted the death of the capitular Fathers. They had just assembled, when Saint Servatius appeared in a dream to one of their number, a very holy religious, warned him of the danger which threatened himself and his brethren , and bade them to flee to Maestricht. This they accordingly did, thus escaping the snares which had been laid for them. And though their coming to Maestricht was wholly unexpected, God disposed the hearts of the inhabitants to receive them with the utmost kindness.

 

In gratitude for this providential intervention, the Fathers decreed that the festival of Saint Servatius should henceforth be celebrated in the Order to the end of time. But, as it was at first instituted only under the rite of a Feast of the Three Lessons, the great increase of festivals of higher rank caused it, after the lapse of years, to fall into disuse. To preserve the memory of so great a benefit, the Fathers, therefore, obtained permission from Pope Leo XII that the festival of Saint Servatius should be henceforth celebrated throughout the entire Order with the rank of a Totum Duplex, or Greater Double.

 

Born: Armenia, unknown date

Died: May 13th 384 at Tongres, Belgium of fever

Canonized: Pre- Congregation

Patronage: against foot problems, against lameness, against leg problems, against mice/rats, against rheumatism, success

Representation: bishop holding a key and accompanied by an angel meeting burghers at a city gate, bishop holding a key in one hand while placing his crozier on a dragon, bishop reading desk where nearby sits a shield with three wooden shoes, bishop with three wooden shoes, man striking water with a staff, pilgrim sleeping in the sun while an eagle fans him

Blessed Colomba of Rieti is always called after her birthplace, though she actually spent the greater part of her life away from it. Her celebrity is based — as it was even in her lifetime — mainly on two things: the highly miraculous nature of her career from its very beginning, and her intense devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. She was one amongst a number of saintly Dominican women who seem to have been expressly raised up by God in protest against, and as a sharp contrast to, the irreligion and immorality prevalent in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These women, nearly all of the Third Order, had an intense devotion to St. Catherine of Siena, and made it their aim to imitate her as nearly as possible. Many seculars, men as well as women, shared this devotion, amongst these being Ercole I, Duke of Ferrara, who had a deep admiration for Colomba and for some other holy Dominican religious, her contemp oraries, the most notable of whom were Blessed Osanna of Mantua and Blessed Lucy of Narni.

For the latter Ercole’s veneration was so great that he never rested until he had got her to come with some of her nuns to live in Ferrara, where he built her a convent and where she died after many troubles. She began when quite a girl to practice austere penances and to subsist almost entirely on the supernatural food of the Holy Eucharist, and continued this for the greater part of her life. At nineteen she joined the Dominican Tertiaries, of whom there were many in town, though still living at home; and she soon won the veneration of her fellow townspeople by her personal holiness as well as by some miracles that she worked. But Colomba was not destined to remain in Rieti. In 1488 she left home and went to Perugia, where the inhabitants received her as a saint, and in the course of time built her the convent of St. Catherine, in which she assembled all the Third Order Dominicanesses, who desired her as superior in spite of her youth. In 1494, when a terrible plague was raging in Perugia, she offered herself as victim for the city. The plague was stayed, but Colomba herself was struck down by the scourge. She recovered only to save her sanctity severely tried by widely spread calumnies, which reached Rome, whence a commission was sent to examine into her life. She was treated for some time as an imposter, and deposed from her office of prioress; but finally her innocence triumphed.

In 1495 Alexander VI, having heard of Colomba’s holiness and miracles from his son the Cardinal Caesar Borgia, who had been living in Perugia, went himself to the city and saw her. She is said to have gone into ecstasy at his feet, and also to have boldy told him of all personal sins. The pope was fully satisfied of her great sanctity, and set the seal of approval on her mode of life. In the year of 1499 she was consulted, by authorities who were examining into the manner, concerning the stigmata of Blessed Lucy of Narni, and spoke warmly in favor of their being genuine, and of her admiration for Blessed Lucy’s holiness. Her relics are still venerated at Perugia, and her feast is kept by her order on 20 May.

Born: February 2, 1467 at Rieti, Umbria, Italy as Angelella Guardagnoli

Died: May 20, 1501 at Perguia, Italy of natural causes; at the moment of her death, her friend, Blessed Osanna Andreasi, saw Columba’s soul as a radiance rising to heaven; the whole city turned out for her funeral, which was paid for by the city fathers

Beatified: February 25, 1625 by Pope Urban VIII

Patronage: against sorcery; against temptation and Perugia, Italy

Representation: Dominican tertiary receiving the Eucharist from a hand reaching down from heaven; Dominican tertiary receiving the Eucharist from an angel; Dominican tertiary with a dove, lily, and book; Dominican tertiary with a wreath of roses, cross, lily, and rosary

Blessed Andrew was born near the world-famous shrine of Mary Magdalen. His entire life was centered around the shrine, and it is greatly due to his efforts that devotion to the great penitential has become so well established.

As a young man, Andrew may have heard the stirring sermons of Saint Vincent Ferrer, who was at that time preaching in France. Perhaps the purity and penitential zeal for which this great preacher was renowned gave the young Andrew the pattern for his own life. He soon demonstrated his choice of purity and penance by joining the Dominicans in his home town. After a happy and holy novitiate, he made his profession and was ordained. In a few years, a preacher and a guide for souls, he turned his attention to the neglected shrine of Saint Mary Magdalen.

This rugged and penitential region of France had been honored from the time of the Apostles as the chosen retreat for Mary Magdalen, who did penance there for the sins of her youth. From earliest days, it had been a place of pilgrimage, but had no definite arrangements for the care of pilgrims, nor any way of supplying their spiritual needs. In Blessed Andrew’s time, Dominican fathers from Saint-Maximin had taken over the spiritual care of the pilgrims as a mission work, but without financial help, and in the face of great trials.

Seeing the need of a permanent foundation at the shrine, Andrew set about creating one. He interested the queen in his project, and obtained enough money from her to build a monastery, which was a gem of architecture as well as a source of spiritual power. Andrew had studied art before his entry into the order, and he used his talents in building, beautifully and permanently, whatever he was called upon to do.

A lover of great beauty in the physical order, Andrew was the same in the spiritual. He was famous as a confessor, and his wise government as prior gave help to the spiritual growth of the new convent. A practical man as well as deeply spiritual, Andrew established two mills near the shrine that would provide the people with a means of earning a living while remaining there. Quite naturally, a priest who interested himself in the welfare of the people to this extent could hope for great influence with them, and this he had, both at Saint Maximin and at Aix, where an altarpiece he painted may still be seen.

After his death, Blessed Andrew was buried in the Church of the Magdalen. His tomb soon became a place of pilgrimage; his help especially was sought in the cure of fevers.

Born: 1375 at Saint Maximin, Provence, France

Died: May 15, 1450 at Aix-en-Provence, France of natural causes; buried in the Church of the Magdalen; his tomb became known as a site of miraculous cures.

Beatified:1902 (cultus confirmed) by Pope Leo XIII

Patronage: against fever

One of the most charming legends in Dominican hagiography is that of little Imelda, who died of love on her first Communion day, and who is, by this happy circumstance, patroness of all first communicants.

Tradition says that Imelda was the daughter of Count Egano Lambertini of Bologna. Her family was famous for its many religious, including a Dominican preacher, a Franciscan mother foundress, and an aunt of Imelda’s who had founded a convent of strict observance in Bologna.

Imelda was a delicate child, petted and favored by her family, and it was no surprise that she should be religious by nature. She learned to read from the Psalter, and early devoted herself to attending Mass and Compline at the Dominican church. Her mother taught her to sew and cook for the poor, and went with her on errands of charity. When Imelda was nine, she asked to be allowed to go to the Dominicans at Val di Pietra. She was the only child of a couple old enough not to hope for any more children; it was a wrench to let her go. However, they took her to the convent and gave her to God with willing, if sorrowing, hearts.

Imelda’s status in the convent is hard to discern. She wore the habit, followed the exercises of the house as much as she was allowed to, and longed for the day when she would be old enough to join them in the two things she envied most–the midnight Office and the reception of Holy Eucharist. Her age barred her from both. She picked up the Divine Office from hearing the sisters chant, and meditated as well as she could.

It was a lonely life for the little girl of nine, and, like many another lonely child, she imagined playmates for herself–with this one difference–her playmates were saints. She was especially fond of Saint Agnes, the martyr, who was little older than Imelda herself. Often she read about her from the large illuminated books in the library, and one day Agnes came in a vision to see her. Imelda was delighted. Shut away from participation in adult devotions, she had found a contemporary who could tell her about the things she most wanted to know. Agnes came often after this, and they talked of heavenly things.

Her first Christmas in the convent brought only sorrow to Imelda. She had been hoping that the sisters would relent and allow her to receive Communion with them, but on the great day, when everyone except her could go receive Jesus in the Eucharist, Imelda remained in her place, gazing through tears at the waxen figure in the creche. Imelda began to pray even more earnestly that she might receive Communion.

When her prayer was answered, spring had come to Bologna, and the world was preparing for the Feast of the Ascension. No one paid much attention to the little girl as she knelt in prayer while the sisters prepared for the Mass. Even when she asked to remain in the chapel in vigil on the eve of the feast, it caused no comment; she was a devout child. The sisters did not know how insistently she was knocking at heaven’s gate, reciting to herself, for assurance, the prayer that appeared in the Communion verse for the Rogation Days: “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.”

The door was opened for Imelda on the morning of the Vigil of the Ascension. She had asked once more for the great privilege of receiving Communion, and, because of her persistence, the chaplain was called in on the case. He refused flatly; Imelda must wait until she was older. She went to her place in the chapel, giving no outward sign that she intended to take heaven by storm, and watched quietly enough while the other sister went to Communion.

After Mass, Imelda remained in her place in the choir. The sacristan busied herself putting out candles and removing the Mass vestments. A sound caused her to turn and look into the choir, and she saw a brilliant light shining above Imelda’s head, and a Host suspended in the light. The sacristan hurried to get the chaplain.

The chaplain now had no choice; God had indicated that He wanted to be communicated to Imelda. Reverently, the chaplain took the Host and gave it to the rapt child, who knelt like a shining statue, unconscious of the nuns crowding into the chapel, or the laypeople pushing against the chapel grille to see what might be happening there.

After an interval for thanksgiving, the prioress went to call the little novice for breakfast. She found her still kneeling. There was a smile on her face, but she was dead.

The legend of Blessed Imelda is firmly entrenched in Dominican hearts, though it is difficult now to find records to substantiate it. She may have been eleven, rather than ten when she died. The convent where she lived has been gone for centuries and its records with it.

Several miracles have been worked through her intercession, and her cause for canonization has been under consideration for many years. As recently as 1928 a major cure was reported of a Spanish sister who was dying of meningitis. Other miracles are under consideration. The day may yet come when the lovable little patroness of first communicants can be enrolled in the calendar of the saints.

Born: Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1322

Died: died on the Feast of the Ascension, May 13, 1333

Beatified: cultus confirmed in 1826 by Pope Leo VII

Patronage: named patron of first communicants by Pope Pius X.

Representation: In art, Imelda is a very young Dominican novice, kneeling before the altar with a sacred Host appearing above her. She is venerated at Bologna and Valdipietra.