Blessed Brother Pacificus

One day, while passing through the small town of San-Severino, he entered the church of a monastery to hear the preaching. It was Francis of Assisi himself who was speaking to the assembled faithful. Our troubadour did not yet know him; but, while he listened attentively with his eyes fixed on the Saint's face, he saw as if two luminous swords forming a cross on his head and two others on his chest. Struck by this vision, the young man of the world recognized all the nothingness of the vanities to which he had surrendered his life; when the sermon was finished, he came to throw himself into the arms of Saint Francis and asked him to receive him among the number of his disciples. The Saint gave thanks to the Lord upon seeing this new spiritual son pass almost without interval from the agitations of the world to th e peace of Jesu frère Pacifique Former troubadour who became a Franciscan friar and provincial minister of the mission in France. s Christ: he named him Brother Pacificus.

In 1216, the mission to France was entrusted to the new Franciscan, who began, with several brothers, to preach in various places. They endured the cold, the heat, and all the inconveniences of the seasons without ever complaining. If there was a church or community in the locality where the Office of Matins was sung during the night, they would all go there together; otherwise, they recited them privately in the house where they lived. The first part of the day was devoted to adoring Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, and if no one had provided them with a little food by noon, they would go to ask for alms from door to door. The rest of the day, until evening, was spent visiting hospitals, consoling the poor, caring for lepers, and relieving the sick and all those who were in any spiritual or bodily need. Such was the simple and edifying conduct of Brother Pacificus and his companions. His position as provincial minister of the mission of France obliged him to travel through a considerable part of the kingdom. Arriving in Hainaut, he was powerfully assisted in his pious undertakings by Countess Jeanne, daughter of Baldwin of Constantinople. So on, houses of the la comtesse Jeanne Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, protector of the order. Order were seen rising in these regions: in Lens, Saint-Trond, Valenciennes, Ghent, Arras, Bruges, and Oudenarde. All these communities were in a short time filled with religious, who spread far and wide the sweet odor of the virtues of Jesus Christ.

Brother Pacificus died around the middle of the 13th century, in the Franciscan monastery of Len s, w Lens Place of death and first Franciscan foundation in northern France. hich appears to have been the first of all those founded in the north of France.

Taken from the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi, by the Rev. Fr. C R. P. Chailippe Author of a life of Saint Francis of Assisi serving as a source. hailippe. — See our Seraphic Palm.

Taken from the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi, by the Rev. Fr. Chailippe. — See our Seraphic Palm Tree.