Saint Conrad of Piacenza

Conrad, surprised by such a distressing accident, entered the city quietly with his men, without showing that he was the cause of this conflagration; a poor man from the countryside was seized and taken prisoner, because he was suspected of being the author of it. He was presented before the criminal judge who, having interrogated him and finding him always in the negative, had him put to the question in order to extract stronger evidence to condemn him. This unfortunate man, lacking courage and constancy, and fearing torments more than the loss of life and honor, confessed to the act of which he was nevertheless innocent, and was immediately condemned to death. He was therefore led to the gallows, and everyone ran to see it. This rumor having spread throughout the city, Conrad was warned of the execution that was about to take place in the person of this innocent man, for a crime of which he himself was the author. Then, pressed by the law of justice and charity which was not entirely extinguished in his heart, he publicly declared the innocence of this poor man, explained how the accident had happened, and offered to repair the damage that had followed: thus the truth was known, the innocent man delivered, and Conrad obliged to make amends.

To achieve this, he sold all his goods, both movable and immovable, reduced himself to the utmost poverty, and compensated his neighbors for all the losses he had caused them. Then, his wife, who had consented to the sale of her dowry for this reparation, took the veil in a monastery in the city of Piacenza, and he retired to a distant land, where he took the habit of Saint Francis, which is called that of penance; then he went to Rome to visit the Holy Places. From there he went to Sicily an d se Noto City in Sicily where the saint lived as a hermit and where he is buried. ttled near Noto, where he remained for forty years as if in so litude, partly in the h hôpital de Saint-Martin Conrad's place of retreat near Noto. ospital of Saint Martin, and partly on a neighboring mountain, to perform a true and serious penance there. His most ordinary occupation was prayer and the mortification of his body, to which he spared no kind of austerity; the bare earth served as his bed, and a stone as a pillow; bread and herbs

LIVES OF THE SAINTS. — VOLUME II. 38 raw vegetables made up the entire variety of his meals; it could be said that he nourished himself more with his tears than with bread: the bread he used was, moreover, so coarse that it flattered his senses no more than if it had been ash. All this, nevertheless, did not prevent the demon from often stirring up in him furious temptations of the flesh and of gluttony; but he overcame them all by increasing his austerities and by prolonging the time of his prayers. He thus triumphed over himself to such a point that, when his friends made him a gift of some vegetables, he would only touch them when they had acquired an unpleasant taste. One day, when he felt urged to eat more than usual, he stripped himself naked and rolled for so long among thorns that blood flowed from every part of his body: this is how he repressed his desires.

God rewarded this great virtue with the gift of prophecy and the grace of miracles, which made him admired and respected, not only by the people, but also by prelates and the most illustrious persons; but we pass these wonders over in silence to come to his precious death. Having had a revelation that it was near, he received the last sacraments, and, after having declared to his confessor that he wished to be buried in the church of Saint Nicholas, and having predicted to him that the inhabitants of Noto and those of Avola would have great disputes over his body, he threw himself at the feet of a crucifix. In this state, being surrounded by an admirable light, he rendered his soul to God, in the year 1351, in the presence of his confessor, who was for some time without knowing if he was dead, because his body remained still on its knees, as if it had been alive. As soon as he had passed away, the bells of the two cities of which we have spoken rang of their own accord to warn the people of the death of the servant of God; and, after several contentions between the inhabitants of one and the other, his body was carried to the church of Saint Nicholas, in Noto. Since then, it has been raised from the earth and placed in a silver reliquary, where the Saint has shone until today through several miracles and great favors granted to the f aithfu Léon X Pope who authorized the office of Saint Ozanne. l. This is why the sovereign pontiff Leo X permitted hi s memory Paul III Pope who approved the Somascan Order in 1540. to be honored in this city: which Paul III extended to Piacenza, to all of Sicily, and Urbain VIII Pope who beatified Josaphat. to other places. Finally, Pope Urban VIII permitted, by a brief of September 13, 1625, all the religious of the Order of Saint Francis to insert him into their calendar.

Here are the various ways in which Saint Conrad of Piacenza has been represented:

1° In most of his images, deer and other game animals are seen escaping near him in front of a breaking fire;

2° Saint Conrad is given, as an indication of his profession as a hunter, a hunting spear or half-pike;

3° Nets also indicate his passion for hunting;

4° Birds flutter around him. It is said that while traveling to the Bishop of Syracuse to live as a hermit, évêque de Syracuse Birthplace of the saint. he was greeted by a cloud of these charming little creatures that seemed to rejoice at his arrival.

Saint Conrad of Piacenza is the principal patron of Noto, where his memory is still held in great veneration. He is invoked there particularly against hernias, because, both living and dead, he healed several; his feast day is regarded as surely bringing about almost countless healings of this infirmity.

An author of his life, from the beginning of the 18th cent ury, Canon Cam chanoine Campi Author of an 18th-century biography of Saint Conrad. pi, of Piacenza, wrote many edifying and curious things about Saint Conrad. We might perhaps be thanked for providing an excerpt from a poem where various popular patronages are associated with that of Conrad, the great hunter, the charitable hospitalier, and the fervent hermit; but this would lead us too far: see, in the absence of the original work, Father Cahier, Caractérist iques, vol. Père Cahier Jesuit and archaeologist, author of the Caractéristiques des Saints. II, p. 411.