St. Raymund of Pennafort

Saint Raymund of Pennafort (c. 1175-1275), known today usually as Raymond of Penyafort, was a Catalan Dominican friar whose mastery of Church law shaped Catholic life for nearly seven centuries and who is honored as the patron of canon lawyers. Born about 1175 at the family castle of Penyafort near Vilafranca del Penedes in Catalonia, Spain, he showed early brilliance in studies, taught in Barcelona, and earned his doctorate in civil and canon law at Bologna, where he also taught with distinction. Around 1222, already in middle age and holding an honored post at the cathedral of Barcelona, Raymund gave up his career to enter the young Order of Preachers. As a Dominican he wrote the Summa de casibus poenitentiae, a pioneering manual for confessors that guided priests in the wise and merciful administration of the sacrament of penance. His reputation for learning and holiness reached Rome, and Pope Gregory IX summoned him to serve as his confessor and chaplain and entrusted him with an immense task: organizing the scattered decrees of popes and councils into a single authoritative collection. The resulting Decretals of Gregory IX, promulgated in 1234, remained the standard body of canon law in the Latin Church until the Code of 1917. Raymund declined the archbishopric of Tarragona, but in 1238 his brethren elected him master general of the Dominican Order. He revised the order's constitutions with a lawyer's clarity, then resigned after two years, pleading age; he was about sixty-five, with thirty-five years still ahead of him. According to tradition he had earlier encouraged Saint Peter Nolasco in founding the Mercedarian Order for the ransom of Christians held captive, a work of mercy close to his heart. In his long final decades in Spain he promoted the evangelization of Muslims and Jews, encouraging the study of Arabic and Hebrew among the friars, and tradition relates that it was at his urging that Saint Thomas Aquinas composed the Summa contra Gentiles. Raymund died in Barcelona on January 6, 1275, reputedly a centenarian, and was mourned by kings and commoners alike. He was canonized in 1601 by Pope Clement VIII. His feast is kept on January 7, and his tomb may be visited in the Cathedral of Barcelona, where he remains a cherished patron of the city and of all who labor in the law of the Church.