Raimondo - Legenda maior sanctae Catharinae Senensis, 1477 - 573577

Raymond of Capua, (ca. 1303 – 5 October 1399) was a leading member of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Ca ...

and served as its Master General from 1380 until his death. First as Prior Provincial of

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and then as Master General of the Order, Raymond undertook the restoration of Dominican religious life. For his success in this endeavor, he is referred to as its "second founder". Raymond worked also for the return of the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and for a solution to the

Western schism The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Vatican Standoff, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon bo ...

. The important mystic and author,

Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena ( Italian: ''Caterina da Siena''; 25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church ...

, accepted him as a

spiritual director Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters of the div ...

because of his burning passion for the Church and for the revival of religious life. He was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

by the Catholic Church in 1899.

Life

He was born "Raymond della Vigna" about 1330 in Capua (then part of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

), a member of a prominent family of that city, and was a descendant of Pietro della Vigna (a figure mentioned in

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...

''). In 1350, while a student of law at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...

, he entered the

. For the next twenty-five years he worked as a spiritual director or as a teacher in various communities of the Order. Raymond was first assigned to

Montepulciano Montepulciano () is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and '' comune'' in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a limestone ridge, east of Pienza, southeast of Siena, southeast of Florence, and north of ...

, where he served as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to a monastery of

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is ...

s of the Dominican Second Order. He was the first biographer of their venerated former prioress, Agnes of Montepulciano, who had died about fifty years earlier. He was then stationed in Rome, to serve as the

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be low ...

of the friars at Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Later he was sent to

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

, where he was assigned by the Master General to be the spiritual director and

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Dominican tertiary,

. Raymond spent the next six years advising her and hearing her confessions. While there, Raymond gradually learned to trust her holiness and her judgment. This was sealed when he became involved in nursing victims of a plague in 1374. When he contracted the disease himself and lay near death, Catherine came and sat at his bedside until he recovered. Knowing how close he was to death, Raymond credited his recovery to her prayers. By 1374 Raymond had come to the attention of

Pope Gregory XI Pope Gregory XI ( la, Gregorius, born Pierre Roger de Beaufort; c. 1329 – 27 March 1378) was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death in March 1378. He was the seventh and last Avignon pope and the most recent French pop ...

, then living in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label= Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune ha ...

, as a result of his connection to Catherine, and also for his novel ways of confronting issues like the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

in the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

, the return of the papacy to Rome, and the general reform of the Church. He was well known for his ability to pass seamlessly from dealing with spiritual and supernatural considerations to the more mundane matters of practical politics. For four years Raymond accompanied Catherine in her journeys, and went to Avignon to act as an intermediary between her and the pope. Catherine had such faith in the commitment of the pope to the cause of a Crusade, that she sent a personal letter to the infamous

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

John Hawkwood Sir John Hawkwood ( 1323 – 17 March 1394) was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or ''condottiero'' in Italy. As his name was difficult to pronounce for non-English-speaking contemporaries, there are many variations of it in ...

, asking him to re-direct his efforts to the service of God in this cause. Pope Gregory would finally return to Rome in 1377, but he died in 1378. The refusal of the French cardinals to accept the election of his successor,

Pope Urban VI Pope Urban VI ( la, Urbanus VI; it, Urbano VI; c. 1318 – 15 October 1389), born Bartolomeo Prignano (), was head of the Catholic Church from 8 April 1378 to his death in October 1389. He was the most recent pope to be elected from outside the ...

, led to the Great Western schism that lasted 39 years, with one pope in Rome and another in

. This schism divided Europe. Raymond, like Catherine, supported the Roman papacy and defended its legitimacy. In 1379 by command of

Raymond was examined by Fra. Giacomo Altoviti who promoted him to the grade of Master of Theology. In the year 1380, Catherine died and Raymond was elected Master General of Dominican Order. He then divided his time between Italy and Germany. In the Caterinian spirit of reform, he gave a new spiritual vitality to the Order. Raymond favored the development of a new interpretation of "observance", for which he drew upon the Franciscan example. In this work he gained the designation of being the second founder of the Order of the Preachers.

Veneration

Raymond was buried first in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

(now Germany), where he died, but his body was later moved to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's admin ...

, to the Church of

San Domenico Maggiore San Domenico Maggiore is a Gothic, Roman Catholic church and monastery, founded by the friars of the Dominican Order, and located in the square of the same name in the historic center of Naples. History The square is bordered by a street/al ...

. In 1899

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

him on the 500th anniversary of his death.

Modern Editions and Translations

''Legenda maior''
ed. Silvia Nocentini (Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2013): A critical edition of his ''Vita'' of Catherine of Siena *
The Life of St. Catherine of Siena
', trans. George Lamb (Harvill Press, 1960): An English translation of the ''Legenda maior'' * P. Tylus (ed.), ''La 'Legenda Maior' de Raymond de Capoue en français ancien'' (= Textes vernaculaires du moyen age, 15). Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2015. (an edition of two Middle French translations of the Raymond of Capua's ''Legenda maior''.

References

{{Authority control 1330s births 1399 deaths Masters of the Order of Preachers People from the Province of Caserta Italian beatified people Dominican beatified people 14th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Western Schism 14th-century venerated Christians Burials at the Basilica of San Domenico, Naples