Today the Church celebrates the life of St. Andrew Corsini, Bishop and Confessor.
Andrew Corsini was born in the fourteenth century in Florence, Italy. He fell into bad company; but soon, touched by the grief of his mother, the young nobleman entered the Carmelite Order in 1318. For forty years he spent his life in doing penance and in preaching. He was then chosen Bishop of Fiesole (a small town near Florence).
He continually helped the poor, doing so in secret in the case of those who were ashamed to make known their distress. By showing his people the true nature of Christian peace, Bishop Andrew put an end to a number of troublesome disturbances in the city. He died on the feast of the Epiphany in 1373.
As Bishop he redoubled his penances and prayers, nor sought any respite from his energetic labours as a pastor of souls, being in particular remarkable for his charity to the poor.
He was canonised in 1629. Pope Clement XII of the Corsini family built a magnificent chapel dedicated to him in Saint John Lateran’s in Rome. Each year for this occasion, a high-ranking member of the Roman Curia celebrates Mass in the chapel of the Lateran Archbasilica dedicated to St. Andrew.
Traditional Matins Reading:
St. Andrew Corsini was born at Florence, of the noble Corsini family. He was the fruit of his parents’ prayers, and was consecrated by them to the blessed Virgin. His future was thus shown by God to the mother. She dreamt that she had given birth to a wolf, which went to the church of the Carmelites, and, as it crossed the threshold, was suddenly changed into a lamb. Though his early education was calculated to form him to piety, and to everything that suited his high birth, he, by degrees, fell into a vicious manner of life, notwithstanding the frequent reproaches made him by his mother. But as soon as he was told that he had been consecrated by his parents to the Virgin Mother of God, and heard of his mother’s vision, he entered the Order of Carmelites. The devil ceased not to molest him, even then, with manifold temptations; but nothing could make him change his resolution of entering the religious life. Shortly after his profession, he was sent to Paris for a course of study; having completed it, and taken his degrees, he returned to Italy, and was made superior of his Order in the province of Tuscany.
It happened about that time, that the Church of Fiesole lost its bishop, and Andrew was chosen as his successor. But looking on himself as unworthy of such a dignity, he hid himself so that no one knew where he was. But a child, who had not yet received the use of speech, miraculously revealed the place, outside the town, where he was: upon which the saint, fearing that further refusal would be a resistance to the divine will, was consecrated bishop. Thus exalted to so great a dignity, he applied himself more than ever to the practice of humility, which had always been his favourite virtue. To the zeal of a good pastor, he united tender compassion for the poor, abundant almsgiving, a life of prayer, long watchings, and other virtues; all which, together with the gift of prophecy he had received, gained for him a great reputation for sanctity.
Pope Urban V, hearing of his great merits, sent him as his legate to Bologna, that he might quell a sedition that had arisen in that city. The fulfilment of this charge cost him much suffering; but such was his prudence, that he succeeded in restoring peace among the citizens, and so preventing further bloodshed; he then returned to Fiesole. Not long after this, being worn out by ceaseless labours and bodily mortifications, and having been told by the blessed Virgin of the precise day of his death, he passed from this life to the kingdom of heaven, in the year of our Lord thirteen hundred and seventy three, and in the seventy-first year of his age. Great was the reputation of his name on account of the many and wonderful miracles wrought through his intercession, and at length he was canonized by Urban VIII. His body reposes in the church of his Order at Florence, where it is held in great veneration, the citizens having often experienced his protection in times of public calamity.
Prayer:
O God, You continually provide Your Church with new examples of virtue. May Your people follow in the footsteps of the blessed Confessor Bishop Andrew and obtain the same reward he now enjoys. Through Our Lord . . .
Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal
0 comment(s):
Post a Comment