MEMORIAL OF SAINTS JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA AND NICODEMUS AND SAINT RAYMOND NONNATUS, CARDINAL ~ FEAST DAY: AUGUST 31ST: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Joseph Of Arimathea and Nicodemus and Saint Raymond Nonnatus, Cardinal. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and we pray for those who mourn. We pray for all expectant mothers, newborn babies and obstetricians, we pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for gardeners and cabdrivers. We also pray for the poor and needy and for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINTS JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA AND NICODEMUS: In the latest edition of the Roman Martyrology, the Church has coupled the feast of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the two holy men who took the Body of Jesus down from the Cross, wrapped it in cloths, and placed it in the tomb. The actions of these two influential Jewish leaders give insight into the charismatic power of Jesus and His teachings—and the risks that could be involved in following him. Little is known of St. Joseph except for the information that is recorded when he is mentioned in all four Gospels. St. Joseph was a respected, wealthy civic leader who had become a disciple of Jesus Christ from Arimathea, a place probably to the northwest of Jerusalem. He was a well-to-do, devout member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel, who was awaiting the Kingdom of God that had been foretold by the Prophets. However, out of fear, he remained a secret disciple. St. Joseph did not take part in the resolution of the Sanhedrin to put Jesus to death. Then after the crucifixion of our Lord (at which he was present), Joseph summoned up the courage to go to Pilate and ask for the Body of the Savior. St. Joseph obtained Jesus’ body from Pilate, wrapped it in fine linen and buried it. For these reasons, St. Joseph is considered the patron saint of funeral directors and pallbearers. More important is the courage St. Joseph showed in asking Pilate for Jesus’ body. Jesus was a condemned criminal who had been publicly executed. According to some legends, St. Joseph was punished and imprisoned for such a bold act.
St. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and, like St. Joseph, an important first-century Jew and very little is known about St. Nicodemus. We know from St. John’s Gospel that St. Nicodemus went to Jesus at night—secretly—to better understand his teachings about the kingdom. Later, he spoke up for Jesus at the time of his arrest and assisted in Jesus’ burial.
With the aid of St. Nicodemus, St. Joseph took down the Body of Jesus, wrapped it in cloths, and placed it in his newly hewn grave (in which no one had been placed) in a garden near Calvary. This fulfilled the words of Isaiah (53:9) that the tomb of the Messiah would be among the rich. Legends that cannot be authenticated have made St. Joseph of Arimathea a heroic figure in the spread of the faith to France and England. St. Nicodemus is known to us through the Gospel of John. He was a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin who was convinced by the miracles of Christ that He was sent from God. In a nighttime interview, Christ told this wealthy and learned inquirer that faith and baptism were necessary for eternal life. Nicodemus did not then understand but was deeply touched, although he did not yet have the courage to stand up for the Lord. Later, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Jewish authorities were planning to kill Jesus, Nicodemus spoke up—though timidly—in the Sanhedrin, reminding them that the Law did not condemn a man until he had been heard in his own defense. After Christ’s death, St. Nicodemus came boldly with about 100 pounds weight of merrh and aloes and assisted at Christ’s burial. Nothing else is known with certainty about St. Nicodemus, but legends about in the Apocryphal works, The Acts of Pilate and The Gospel of Nicodemus. Sts. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus are Patron Saints of Funeral Directors and Pallbearers.
PRAYER: God, You alone are holy and without You no one is good. Through the intercession of Sts. Joseph and Nicodemus, grant that we may so live as not to be deprived of Your glory. Amen 🙏
SAINT RAYMOND NONNATUS, CARDINAL: St. Raymond Nonnatus (1204-1240) was born in Catalonia, Spain, to a noble family. His life was saved by caesarean section after his mother died in childbirth, earning him the nick name ‘Nonnatus’ meaning ‘one not born’ in Latin. St. Raymond was a pious child drawn to the religious life, but his father had plans for him to serve in the royal court of the King of Aragon. To distract St. Raymond from his vocation, his father sent him to tend the family fields. This had the opposite effect and gave Raymond greater opportunity to pray in the country chapel. He was a well-educated noble, called to the priesthood and his father eventually allowed him to join the Mercedarians, a religious order which ransomed Christian slaves from their Muslim captors. St. Raymund Nonnatus devoted his life to the ransoming of Christians held prisoner by the Mohammedans or Moors. He was one of the first members of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom (or Mercedarians) founded by St. Peter Nolasco and St. Raymund of Penafort. St. Peter Nolasco was a native of Languedoc and he founded the Mercedarians in the early thirteenth century. Amongst those he received into the society was St. Raymond, a Catalonian. So determined was Saint Raymond Nonnatus that when St. Peter Nolasco retired as chief ransomer, the saint succeeded him in this office. St. Raymond became Master General of the order.
On a mission to Algeria, North Africa, he set off with a great sum of money, and there ransomed many slaves, he ran out of money and offered himself for others and was imprisoned. When his money ran out, Saint Raymond Nonnatus could have made his own escape. But this would have involved leaving several slaves behind. He gave himself up in exchange for their liberty. While in prison, St. Raymond was tortured throughout his imprisonment, yet he converted numerous people including Muslims to the Christian faith, angering his captors. To prevent him from preaching Christ, his captors pierced his lips with a red-hot iron and closed them with a padlock. His own life was now in great danger. The Moors of Algeria were enraged that he had managed to convert some of their number. The governor would have put him to death by impaling the saint on a stake. What saved him were others who realized that a rich ransom would be paid for this particular Christian. Even so, he was still whipped publicly in the streets — partly to discourage those who might be tempted to learn from him the Christian faith. Reports of his tortures probably exaggerated the cruelty of his Moorish captors but after eight months of torture, St. Peter Nolasco arrived with St. Raymond Nonnatus’s ransom. Even then he wanted to stay behind, hoping to convert still more men and women to Christianity; but St. Peter Nolasco forbade it. He was eventually ransomed by his order and returned to Spain. On his return, Pope Gregory IX made him a cardinal. The pope wished to see Raymond Nonnatus in Rome, but on his way there in the year 1240 he reached only Cardona near Barcelona, where he died at the age of thirty-six. After his death there was a dispute over who had the right to bury his body. To settle the matter, his body was placed on a blind mule and set loose. The mule went to the country chapel where Raymond had prayed in his youth, and it was there that he was buried. Many miracles were attributed to St. Raymond Nonnatus both before and after his death. Patron Saint of childbirth; children; expectant mothers; falsely accused people; fever; infants; midwives; newborn babies; obstetricians; pregnant women; caesarian sections; fever suffers, and obstetricians. His feast day is August 31st.
Saint Raymond Nonnatus, Cardinal ~ Pray for us 🙏