Bob Lord - Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

Published by Bob and Penny Lord atSmashwords

Copyright 2011 Bob and Penny Lord

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Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

Champion of the Souls in Purgatory

Nicholas was the pride of the AugustinianCommunity which flourished in the northeastern section of Italyknown as the Marches. He was born in the year 1245, not too farfrom Tolentino where he spent most of his life as a religious. Hiselderly parents had not been able to bear a child. Late in life,they made a pilgrimage to Bari, petitioning Saint Nicholas of Barito intercede with the Lord that they might bring a child into theworld, never suspecting the impact that child would have on thehistory of the Church. St. Nicholas was born and his parents namedhim after Saint Nicholas of Bari in thanksgiving. He was the giftof their golden years. They offered him back to the Lord, as hismother committed him to God at his baptism. Parents, having aproblem conceiving, often turn to St. Nicholas of Tolentino, PatronSaint of difficult births because of his miraculous birth.

From an early age, Nicholas longed for thereligious life. The lives of the Saints, his mother had read to himfilled him with the desire to be holy. The stories about Our LordJesus and Mother Mary brought him each day closer and closer tobeing her son and sharing in her Sons Way of the Cross.

There were those in the clergy who wanted totake him under their wing so that he could be a professional priestin the secular clergy, but that was not what Nicholas felt burningdeep in his heart. Instead, he searched for wherever the Lordwanted him to serve. Not only had the life of Saint Augustine beenone that his mother had read to him, but he was to hear about theSaint in school. When the Lord wants you to do something, He makesit perfectly clear. Just in case the young Nicholas had notunderstood the call to be an Augustinian, the Lord brought him toan Augustinian church, to hear an Augustinian preach; and in casehe had not heard his commandment to follow Him in the religiouslife, what should the priest preach on in his homily but thefollowing Gospel passage, Love not the world, nor the things thatare in the world....the world is passing away. We never know whenwe are planting seeds, what will flower and bloom. Did he become anAugustinian because of his mothers instructions on her knee? Iwould say Yes! Did he become an Augustinian because of thelessons learned in school? Again we must say Yes! But it isbelieved that it was the preacher who filled Nicholas with thegreat desire which would catapult him into serving the Lord andonly the Lord for the rest of his life.

He entered the Augustinian community whilestill a child, and before he was eighteen, he joined the communityas a brother. His first task was as doorkeeper at the monastery. Heloved this job. He was able to meet the poor, and instruct themgently in the ways of the Lord. He would also give them food,sometimes too much food for the liking of his superior, but thatwas who Nicholas was. He willingly gave up all that he had, but theproblem was that he also gave up all the community had.

It was during this time, his early days inthe Augustinian community, while being doorkeeper, that we hear ofNicholas first miracle. A child came to the door with his parents.It was obvious he suffered a serious physical malady. Nicholas puthis hand on the childs head and said, The good God will healyou. The afflicted child was immediately healed.

He traveled up and down the provinces ofItaly near to his home town. He spent time in Cingoli, where he wasordained a priest at age 25. He healed a blind woman in thatvillage, and became well-loved by the people there. But he had tomove on. The Lord had a plan for Nicholas, and that was toeventually bring his ministry to Tolentino. There, he would spendthe rest of his days, evangelizing to everyone and anyone hecould.

On all the paintings and statues of St.Nicholas, you see a star on his chest. There is a tradition thatwhen meditating on where he should go, he saw an unusually brightstar in the sky and followed that star to Tolentino. This remindsus of the Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem that led them tothe Baby Jesus, born to redeem the world. Why had the star ledNicholas to Tolentino? The situation was not good in Tolentino whenhe arrived. People were not attending Mass. The churches wereempty. His superiors held the belief the only way was to godoor-to-door evangelizing. If the people would not come to God, Hisdisciples would go to them; and so they sent Brother Nicholas(among others) to the people. Now, he had not done this before, buthe obeyed and set out among the villagers. What he found was thatthe faithful were actually starving for the Word of God; he wasimmediately accepted by the people. During his teachings on theGospel, he simply glorified God. He could hear people crying asthey listened to him. He spoke with, as St. Augustine taught, theheart and mind of the Church and conversions took place en masse.Even those who hated him, could not resist the love with which hepreached; they too, soon came around.

There is an instance which is attributed tothe Saint, where there was one angry man, a heretic, who not onlydid not believe, but became violent when Nicholas preached in thetown squares. He did everything in his power to disrupt Nicholas,or distract the people so that they could not pay attention toNicholas. But our little saint just kept plugging, exchanging angerand violence with love. This infuriated the man all the more.

One day, when Nicholas was preaching to thepeople, in the town square, sharing how much God loved them, theangry man decided to disrupt the proceedings by fencing with hisfriends. The sound of steel blades slicing against steel blades,the swords threatened to drown out Nicholas, but that didnt stophim. He kept sharing about the God Who unconditionally loves us,even as we are rejecting Him. The angry man, who could not helphearing everything Nicholas was saying, finally stopped fencing,leaned on his sword and listened to the rest of Nicholas talk.Needless to say, he was converted and became one of Nicholasgreatest supporters.

St. Nicholas devotion to the Poor Souls

There are many gifts for which St. Nicholasof Tolentino is best known. One is his great devotion to the PoorSouls in Purgatory. When his superiors encouraged him to enter theseminary in preparation for the priesthood, he hesitated. He wantednothing to take away from his prayer time for the Poor Souls. Itwasnt until he was convinced that the greatest prayer he couldpray for those suffering in Purgatory was the Sacrifice of theMass, and that he could do best as a priest of God, that he finallyconsented to enter the seminary. He was ordained a priest in theorder of St. Augustine.