Devotion and prayers to today's patron saint: 10 September 2020

SAINT NICOLA FROM TOLENTINO

Castel Sant'Angelo (now Sant'Angelo in Pontano, Macerata), 1245 - Tolentino (Macerata), 10 September 1305

He was born in 1245 in Castel Sant'Angelo in Pontano in the diocese of Fermo. At the age of 14 he entered among the hermits of Sant'Agostino di Castel Sant'Angelo as an oblate, that is, still without obligations and vows. Later he entered the order and in 1274 he was ordained a priest in Cingoli. The Augustinian community of Tolentino became his "mother house" and his field of work in the Marche region with the various convents of the Order, which welcomed him on the preacher's itinerary. He devoted a good part of his day to long prayers and fasting. An ascetic who spread smiles, a penitent who brought joy. They heard him preach, they listened to him in confession or in occasional meetings, and it was always like this: he came from eight to ten hours of prayer, from fasting to bread and water, but he had words that spread smiles. Many came from afar to confess to him all sorts of misdeeds, and went away enriched by his joyful trust. Always accompanied by rumors of miracles, in 1275 he settled in Tolentino where he remained until his death on 10 September 1305. (Avvenire)

The devotion of St. Nicholas in the world has always been linked to the sign of the blessed sandwiches that he had eaten at the suggestion of the Madonna and had experienced their effectiveness, suddenly recovering from a deadly disease. He is the patron of the souls in Purgatory, of the universal Church in problems concerning ecumenism; moreover, it is effectively invoked by women who have recently given birth, on the difficulties of childhood and development and in general in all difficulties.

PRAYER TO SAN NICOLA DA TOLENTINO FOR THE CHILDREN

O Saint Nicholas, look kindly on our children, make them grow and mature as men and as Christians. You who knew how to be so close to men and in particular to children and young people whom you supported with your friendship and enlightened with your advice, also take care of our children, bring them closer to the Lord, preserve them from evil and pray that the blessing of God always accompany them.

PRAYER TO SAN NICOLA DA TOLENTINO FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

O St. Nicholas friend of God and our friend, you who have been so sensitive to the needs of young people by guiding them with the wisdom of your advice, continue from heaven, as father and brother, to show your solicitous concern for us. Protect our activities: study, work, service to the needy, our commitment to the Church. Guard and purify our affections. Enlighten our choices so that they are according to God's heart. Be an attentive and sweet travel companion for all of us.

PRAYER TO SAN NICOLA DA TOLENTINO FOR FAMILIES

O St. Nicholas, luminous guide for families, you who know how important it is to have parents who believe in the Lord and are animated by a profound faith, pray for us fathers and mothers, so that teaching with our words is always accompanied by a holy life and our children may grow up in love with Christ.

PRAYER TO SAN NICOLA DA TOLENTINO FOR THE SOULS OF PURGATORY

St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who during your earthly life were of great help to the afflicted souls in Purgatory, now in Heaven be my advocate and intercessor with God; validate these poor prayers of mine to obtain from divine clemency the liberation and relief of those souls from whom I hope great help

PRAYER TO SAN NICOLA DA TOLENTINO

Glorious thaumaturge Saint Nicholas, who was born through the intercession of the great Saint of Bari, not only did you bear his name, but you imitated his virtues, here we are in front of you to invoke your intercession to be faithful to Jesus Christ, to the Holy Church and to the Holy Father; let the Church be a light for men in difficult times and lead them to the path of truth and good. Continue to intercede for the souls of Purgatory and let us forget them, not only to make our suffrage alive, but to be well aware that we too must desire this full communion with the Lord. Guide us on the path of goodness and make us capable of making room for Jesus in our life, so that what we ask of you is in communion with the will of the Father and together with You and the souls of the brothers who preceded us, we can enjoy the glory of Paradise .

PRAYER TO SAN NICOLA DA TOLENTINO FOR THE CHURCH

Glorious St. Nicholas, animated by deep trust in your most effective patronage, I raise my voice to you and warmly recommend the august Bride of Jesus, the Church. From Heaven you know the fierce struggles that she sustains, the frantic groans she sends from her heart, the bitter tears she sheds for the loss of so many souls. Deh! You who are the mighty Protector, upon it and on its children invoke divine mercy. And as the peoples still greeted you as a special patron of the Church that suffers in Purgatory, so I also recommend this to the effectiveness of your patronage. Intercede for those souls, hasten the embrace of the celestial Spouse for them; make the one and the other Church defended and protected by you, be eternally blessed with that of Heaven. So be it.

PRAYER TO SAN NICOLA DA TOLENTINO

I. O glorious Saint Nicholas, who was born through the intercession of the great thaumaturge of Bari, you were not content to bear his name in gratitude, but you still used every study to copy his virtues in yourselves; ask all of us for the grace to walk always faithful in the footsteps of the saints, whose name we bear, in order to be favored with their patronage, and to participate in their glory after death. Glory…

II. O glorious St. Nicholas, who even as a child delighted retreat, prayer, fasting, and tender youth, the more you advanced in piety, the greater your progress in your literary career; obtain for all of us the grace to progress every day in evangelical perfection, especially with prayer and fasting, which are the two indispensable wings for raising us to the top of the holy mountain. Glory…

III. O glorious Saint Nicholas, who, always eager to correspond to all the movements of grace, sought and obtained to enter the Augustinian order as soon as you heard a sermon from one of those holy hermits; and there you advanced so much in perfection that at the age of twelve you were proposed to the old as a model, and favored of monastic profession before time, implore us all the grace to faithfully second all the divine inspirations, and constantly edify our neighbors by disengaging in best way all the duties of our state. Glory…

IV. O glorious Saint Nicholas, who, increasing your penance practices every day, deserved to be sent by your superiors to different houses of your Order for the sole purpose of edifying even the most perfect religious with your example, and tormented by the most wounds. obstinate, the most painful, you never did anything other than unite yourself more closely to your God; ask all of us for the grace never to turn away in the exercise of evangelical mortification, and to always suffer with peace and joy whatever afflictive and tormenting could happen to us on earth. Glory…

V. O glorious St. Nicholas, that you were so favored by God as to multiply with a single prayer the domestic provisions to those poor who in extreme misery wanted to give you the only bread that remained for their sustenance, then consoled and visited several times not only from s. Augustine and by various Angels, but still by the Virgin Mary herself, you were with the loaves blessed by her returned to health, then infinite miracles you worked with the small loaves blessed in your name, implore us all the grace to be always so pious, so charitable or so mortified as to deserve for us the most distinguished favors here on earth, and to secure for us the eternity of the blessed in the afterlife. Glory…