Who, do you ask? Who is he commemorated this day? A holy Hermit of St Augustine, who died on this day some seven centuries and two years ago, aged three score years, having spent his last thirty at Tolentino, there preaching daily; who was at once a doer of all works of mercy, a peacemaker, a wonder-worker, and an indefatigable intercessor for the Holy Souls in Purgatory; who had been born to formerly childless parents after their making a pilgrimage to Bari out of devotion to the great St Nicholas whose relics are there; who had been named after that saint; who had ever lived a godly, pious and sober life; who had been moved to join the O.S.A. after hearing a member thereof preach on the text Nolite diligere mundum, nec ea quæ sunt in mundo... quia mundus transit et concupiscentia ejus (cf. I St John ii, 15a. 17a); who had ever fasted and done harsh penances, macerating his flesh that it might be subdued to the spirit; who had for the last half-year of his life heard the singing of the angels in heaven, and therefore had sighed to join them, saying with St Paul Cupio dissolvi et esse cum Christo (Phil. i, 23b).
His Collect:
Adesto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, quas in beati Nicolai Confessoris tui solemnitate deferimus: ut, qui nostræ justitiæ fiduciam non habemus, ejus, qui tibi placuit, precibus adjuvemur. Per...
(Attend, Lord, to our supplications, which we offer on the solemnity of blessed Nicholas Thy Confessor: that we who have no trust in our own righteousness, may be aided by his prayers, who pleased Thee. Through...)
St Nicholas of Tolentino, pray for us.
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