Saint Raymond of Penyafort

Born in 1173 into an old noble Catalan family, he was related to the King of Aragon. As a young man of twenty he taught philosophy in Barcelona, receiving no payment for his work. He sought to form both the hearts and the minds of his students. In his thirtieth year he went to Bologna to continue his studies in canon and civil law, and there he earned his doctorate. After returning to Barcelona in 1219, he was appointed canon, archdeacon, and vicar general. In 1222 he entered the Dominican Order. This was eight months after the death of the order’s holy founder.

He worked zealously for the conversion of the Moors and the Jews, and at the same time he compiled a work containing guidance for confessors. Pope Gregory IX called him to Rome and appointed him chaplain of the Apostolic Palace, penitentiary, and his personal confessor. During this time Saint Raymond wrote a work of canon law in five books known as the “Decretals.” After returning to his homeland, he was elected Master General of the Dominican Order, succeeding Jordan of Saxony, who had been the immediate successor of Saint Dominic. Having revised the order’s constitutions, he resigned from office and devoted himself once again to the apostolate. He died in Barcelona in 1275, at the age of one hundred.