Blessed Raymond Lull

Blessed Raymond Lull was a layman from Majorca, a husband and father, who after his conversion devoted his life to proclaiming the Gospel to Muslims. He was a philosopher, a poet and the author of more than two hundred works. The Roman Martyrology calls him a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis and a martyr, a man of great learning who, to spread the Gospel, entered into fraternal dialogue with the Saracens. The Church commemorates him on June 29.

He was born in Palma, on Majorca, in 1232 or 1233, a few years after the island was conquered by King James I of Aragon, into a family from Barcelona. In his youth he served at court, among others in the service of the future King James II of Majorca, and wrote love poems. In 1257 he married Blanca Picany, with whom he had two children, Dominic and Magdalena.

At about the age of thirty, as he himself recounted, he saw Christ crucified five times. He then resolved to convert unbelievers, to write books against their errors and to work for schools in which missionaries would learn the languages they needed. He sold part of his property, leaving means to support his family, and took leave of his loved ones. A Muslim slave taught him Arabic. According to tradition, on Mount Randa on Majorca he worked out his method, called the Art (Ars). In 1276, through his efforts, King James II founded a college at Miramar in which thirteen Franciscans studied the languages of the East, and Pope John XXI approved the foundation.

He taught in Paris and asked Popes Celestine V and Boniface VIII to support the missions and Eastern studies. Around 1293 he debated with Muslim scholars in Tunis, but he was imprisoned and expelled. In 1307 in Bugia (Béjaïa), in present-day Algeria, he was again thrown into prison. He presented his proposals to the Council of Vienne, which met from 1311. Pope Pius XI wrote that, according to tradition, it was at his prompting that the council established schools of Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and Chaldean at the Roman Curia and at the universities of Paris, Oxford, Bologna and Salamanca. He wrote in Catalan, Latin and Arabic, and later generations called him the Illuminated Doctor.

In 1311 in Paris a life based on his own account was written, known as the Vita coaetanea, which is the main source of knowledge about him. His last journey took him to Tunis, where he was still staying at the end of 1314. He died in 1315 or 1316; the place and circumstances of his death are not certain. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him at sea off the coast of Majorca. Tradition holds that he was stoned by Muslims in Africa, and the title of martyr rests on this tradition, but historians regard the story as a legend. He rests in the Church of Saint Francis in Palma.

Soon after his death he began to be venerated as blessed, especially on Majorca and in the Franciscan Order. His cult was approved in the nineteenth century by Pope Pius IX.