SAINTLY SKETCH

St. Bernardine
of Siena

Preacher of the Holy Name of Jesus

by Peter A. Kwasniewski

Throughout the history of the Church there appear saints whose apostolic zeal and gift of preaching call to mind the Apostle to the Gentiles, St. Paul. St. Bernardine (Feast: May 20) is truly to be numbered among the greatest of such men. Born in Siena in 1380, Bernardine lost his parents as a little boy and was brought up lovingly by his pious aunts. Although he was to be known throughout his life for his playful talk and buoyant spirits, he was an implacable foe of coarse jests or sordid occupations. As a boy he once struck with his fists a high-ranking official who had suggested dishonorable recreations; later, he returned with his friends to cast mud and stones at the man until he desisted from his wicked ways. At the age of twenty, he revealed to the world a hint of his fervor and energy by taking charge of a hospital in Siena during a severe plague and organizing a band of friends who, together with their leader, eased the victims' suffering and prepared them for a peaceful death. Having taken care of his aunt for some time afterwards, upon her death he sold his possessions and sought entry into the Franciscans of the Strict Observance, otherwise known as the Friars Minor or "little brothers." At 24 he was ordained a priest.

For the next twelve years we know little about his life, save that he spent his time in quiet prayer and meditation, as though in preparation for a great work. Around the age of 36, a sign came to him that he should commence a labor of preaching throughout the feud-riven and vice-laden land of Italy. For the next fourteen years, Bernardine traveled all over the country, preaching in every town and city -- sometimes, on account of his growing fame, to open-air audiences as large as 30,000. Finding the people and their leaders steeped in sins of avarice, luxury, political vengeance, usury, and other excesses typical of the early Renaissance, Bernardine passionately exhorted his listeners to thrust aside their rivalries and worldly corruptions in order to obey the demands of the Gospel of Christ, the one true message of peace and the one unfailing guarantee of happiness. So successful were his efforts at reconciling the rival factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines that families who had stolen one another's property freely returned what had been taken, exiles were called back from their dwellings, and political shields and signs were replaced by monograms of the Holy Name of Jesus. Rather than tolerate their discordant factionalism as a lesser man would have done, Bernardine fearlessly rebuked statesmen and nobles, even as he weaned the common people of their addictions to gambling and carousing. By the forcefulness of his words and the grace of God they bore within, Bernardine turned the hearts of thousands to thoughts of peace and strengthened the bonds of benevolence uniting families and neighbors.

During his travels on foot through the various provinces of Italy, his preaching coalesced more and more around the Name of Jesus, the power, beauty, and holiness of which he eloquently expounded before rapt crowds. At the end of his sermons he would hold aloft a wooden board inscribed with the letters "IHS" surrounded by rays of light and plead with the people to embrace as their way of life this heavenly name and all it signified. (The monogram "IHS," which can still be seen in many Catholic churches and cathedrals, is an abbreviated form of the medieval spelling of the name of Our Lord, "IHESUS."1) Because many modern Christians may not understand why St. Bernardine invested such significance in the name of the Savior, we should briefly consider the reasons underlying this traditional Catholic devotion. As Frederick Holweck explains, "the Name of Jesus reminds us of all the blessings we receive through our Holy Redeemer." Just as we honor Christ's Passion when we revere the Cross upon which the Paschal victim was offered, so too we give praise and worship to the Son of God when we invoke and show deep reverence towards His Name.2 Holweck goes on to say:

The Name of Jesus invoked with confidence (1) brings help in bodily needs, according to the promise of Christ: "In my name ... they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover" (Mk. 16:17-18). In the Name of Jesus the Apostles gave strength to the lame (Acts 3:6; 9:34) and life to the dead (Acts 9:40). (2) It gives consolation in spiritual trials. The Name of Jesus reminds the sinner of the prodigal son's father and of the Good Samaritan; it recalls to the just the suffering and death of the innocent Lamb of God. (3) It protects us against Satan and his wiles, for the Devil fears the Name of Jesus, who has conquered him on the Cross. (4) In the name of Jesus we obtain every blessing and grace for time and eternity, for Christ has said: "If you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you" (Jn. 16:23). Therefore the Church concludes all her prayers by the words: "Through Our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. So the word of St. Paul is fulfilled: "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth" (Phil. 2:10).3

Bernadine's popularity attracted powerful friends -- and no less powerful enemies. Accused of heresy and denounced before Pope Martin V, Bernardine was ultimately vindicated and his opponents put to shame. He turned down three offers of bishoprics from the same pope, "saying playfully that all Italy was already his diocese."4 When he turned fifty, Bernardine took up the office of Vicar General of the Friars Minor, a nobly conceived but struggling Franciscan reform movement. There is a fine lesson to be learned from the results of Bernardine's efforts: holiness and fervor produce vocations, not lax rules and easier standards. Bernardine was not a man who hid his light under a bushel basket; he was on fire for the conversion of souls from the head to the heel of Italy. Perhaps that is why his branch of the Franciscans grew from about 200 when he first entered religious life to over 4000 by the time he died. As Vicar General, he founded or reformed 300 convents, sent off missionaries to the Orient, and established contacts in good will with the schismatic Greek Christians, whose ambassadors he later addressed in the Greek tongue at the Council of Florence.5

After twelve years as Vicar General, Bernardine, now 62, resigned his office in order to return to preaching, as was his heart's longing. Despite ill health, two years later during the Lent of 1444 he preached on fifty consecutive days (for three to four hours each day) in the town of Massa Marittima. Although by the end of Lent he was near upon death, he set out for Naples, the only place he had not yet preached in the course of his life. As he made his way thither, he came down with a fever and died at Aquila on Ascension Eve, May 20, in the company of friars. Universally revered for his holiness, gentleness, courage, and ardor, Bernardine was canonized within six years of his death by the Holy Church on whose behalf he humbly and faithfully toiled for more than forty years.6

Peter A. Kwasniewski is studying for a Doctorate in Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, concentrating on medieval philosophy.

End Notes

1 We find the monogram as early as the eighth century, written on a Roman gold coin: "dn ihs chs rex regnantium" (Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings). Later, the Jesuits construed "ihs" as an epigram meaning "Iesus Hominem Salvator" (Jesus the savior of men). Because it became customary to draw three nails in the shape of a v underneath the h, it was also said that "ihsv" stands for "In Hoc Signo Vinces" (in this sign you shall conquer), the words Emperor Constantine saw emblazoned in the heavens under the sign of the cross in the year 312.

2 Bernardine was also responsible for encouraging his listeners to add the Name of Jesus to the Hail Mary: "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." From Italy where it first took root, the custom quickly spread throughout the Universal Church.

3 The [Old] Catholic Encyclopedia, "Holy Name of Jesus," p. 421, left col.

4 Ibid., "Bernardine of Siena," p. 506, left col.

5 Bernardine was a deeply learned man. His collected writings include formal Latin dissertations that elucidate his teaching, essays on ascetical and mystical theology, books on practical discipline, treatises on the Virgin Mary, and a commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John.

6 For more detail about the life and work of this remarkable saint, see the study by P. Thureau-Dangin (Eng. trans. 1906); Maisie Ward, St. Bernardine, the People's Preacher (1914); Butler's Lives of the Saints, May 20; The [Old] Catholic Encyclopedia, "Bernardine of Siena" and "Holy Name of Jesus."