Saint Bernardine of Siena, Priest

Bernardine Albizzeschi was born in 1380 near Siena and orphaned as a child. In 1400, when plague struck Siena, he and his companions nursed the sick in the great hospital of Santa Maria della Scala for four months. Two years later he joined the Franciscans of the strict Observance.

From 1417 he walked through Italy as a preacher. His sermons, in plain and lively Italian, drew huge crowds into the squares; he denounced feuds, usury and gambling, and some were taken down word for word by listeners. He spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, showing a tablet with its letters, IHS, in gold. He refused three bishoprics, led the Observants for some years and died at L’Aquila on 20 May 1444. He was canonized only six years later.