Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen

Marc Rey Marc Rey Subject of biography, lawyer turned Capuchin and martyr. —this was our Saint's name before he entered religious life—was born in 1577 in Sig maringen, a Sigmaringen Birthplace of the saint. small town in the principality of Hohenzollern; his father, Jean Rey, and his mother, Geneviève de Rosenberg, both noble and Catholic, gave him an education worthy of these two titles. He completed his initial stu dies at the University of Freiburg université de Fribourg, en Brisgau Place of the saint's higher education. in Breisgau, which he edified with his wisdom, so much so that he earned the nickname of the Christian philosopher: he distinguished himself no less in the study of jurisprudence and was received as a doctor in both canon and civil law. Asked to accompany three young gentlemen from the leading families of the country, who intended to visit the various kingdoms of Europe, he consented and proved himself to them, during this journey, the tenderest of friends and the most zealous of fathers, never missing an opportunity to form their minds with wise maxims. His main ones were: "That a young man must despise vain finery; that if one dresses like a woman, one is unworthy of glory, which can only be conquered by suffering hardships and trampling pleasures underfoot... That before commanding others, one must conquer oneself; to remember that our subjects are our equals, that we must relieve them, being of a nature exposed to pain and misery just as they are."

"Make at least one exception for the ungrateful," one of the young lords said to him; "how can one resolve to do good to them?"

"How so," the Saint replied? "Must you not, on one hand, expect to find more or less ingratitude in all men, and on the other, will you not see in each of them the very person of Jesus Christ, to whom your good deed is addressed and who will not forget it?"

While forming others in virtue, he did not neglect himself. He frequently approached the holy mysteries, exhorted and relieved the sick in hospitals, visited churches, remained for entire hours at the foot of the altars in sweet conversation with Our Lord, and sought Him out even more in the poor, to whom he gave everything, even his own clothes.

Upon returning from this journey, he parted from his three disciples, despite their prayers and regrets: his farewell was that they should never lose sight of the fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom, and that they should no longer consider their titles of nobility to consist in anything but virtue. As for him, having perfected himself in the science of law, he practiced the profession of lawyer in Colmar, in Alsace, with great distinction and integrity. He often preferred the cause of the poor to that of the rich: there was never any slander in his pleadings, never anything that could have harmed the honor of the opposing party; but his arguments were so solid, his conclusions so wise, that he had the greatest influence on the judges' decisions. He soon saw, however, that it is difficult to be both a wealthy lawyer and a good Christian. Yielding to this fear and to divine impulses, he left the world and retired to the Capuchins of Fribourg, where he took the habit in 1612 and r Fidèle Subject of biography, lawyer turned Capuchin and martyr. eceived the name of Fidelis.

Soon the new religious made giant strides on the path of perfection. He was not, however, inaccessible to temptation. He experienced that being away from the occasions of the world does not mean one is safe from the suggestions of the enemy of salvation, that the most remote solitudes, the most horrible wildernesses, and the most rugged rocks are not always sure ramparts for virtue; that man carries within himself everywhere a foundation of passions that can only be destroyed by continuous attention to oneself and faithful correspondence to grace, with which one is always victorious when one sincerely desires it. The enemy of salvation therefore undertook to seize his mind: he caused doubts to arise in him regarding the good he could have done by remaining in the world; he represented to him that he would have continued to be the zealous defender of the laws, the protector of the widow and the orphan, the father of the poor, and that he would have thus given more help to his neighbor than he could by leading a private and hidden life in solitude; and that his salvation would have been just as assured in the world as in religion. This skillful temptation did not fail to shake the Saint's firmness for a moment. His passions, long chained, began to want to break free. His talents, his comforts, his ease, the loss of his fortune, his reputation—all these advantages buried under the religious habit made him lean now toward religion and now toward the world. He went to find the Father Master of Novices, who made him understand that his doubts came from the spirit of darkness and that he must address the Lord to know His will. "O my adorable Savior!" cried the zealous novice, "restore to me that salutary joy and serenity of mind whose sweetness I tasted in the happy beginnings of my vocation; grant, O my God! by revealing your will to me, that I may triumph over my enemy and my passions." This prayer was so pleasing to God that He restored peace and strength to His servant. He saw clearly the source of his uncertainties, and this vision gave him new courage, a new ardor for his spiritual exercises, and a new attachment to God. He wished to break with the world forever. With the permission of the superior, he sent for a notary and made his property a foundation for the seminary, for the benefit of several young ecclesiastics, in order to facilitate the means for them to continue their studies; he bequeathed his library to them in common so that they could all profit from it together, and thus stripped, he prepared himself to enter forever into the happy poverty of the children of Saint Francis.

"To conform myself," he said in the testamentar y act he made saint François Founder of the Order of Friars Minor. before his profession, "to the perfect resignation and charity by which Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, sweating blood and water in the Garden of Olives and finally dying on the tree of the cross, resigned, commended, and offered Himself to His Father; likewise, I offer and consecrate, by this my last will and disposition, my body and my soul, as a living eternal sacrifice, with a contrite heart, to the perpetual service of the Divine Majesty and of the Most Holy Immaculate Virgin, and of the seraphic father Saint Francis; and as I came forth naked from my mother's womb, so, stripped of all things of the earth, I abandon myself into the arms of my Savior." He often congratulated himself afterward on the happy exchange he had made with God: "He returned to God the goods of the earth, and God gave him in return the kingdom of heaven!" He also said that since God had only restored us to life by enduring death, we could only preserve this life by the same means, by dying to ourselves; and that, since our reward will be to rejoice forever in heaven, we must not fear to suffer always on earth. Thus he always suffered, adding to the mortifications of the rule all the voluntary mortifications that obedience permitted him. The poorest furniture and the most worn-out clothes were one of the great objects of his ambition: hairshirts, cilices, belts armed with iron spikes, and disciplines supplemented the martyrdom for which he sighed; during Advent, Lent, and the Vigils, he lived only on bread, water, and dried fruits: "What a misfortune," he would say, "if I were to fight feebly, a soldier under a leader crowned with thorns!" What shall we say of his prayers, where one would have taken him for an angel speaking to God in heaven; of his meditations, in which, turning his gaze completely away from the creature, he contemplated the perfections of God and his own miseries; of his humility, which made him vie with the young religious for the lowliest tasks; of his devotion toward the Blessed Virgin, his firmest hope after God, and to whom he believed he owed all the graces he obtained?

His superiors were eager to make such virtues useful to his neighbor. When he had finished his theology course and had been raised to the priesthood, he was charged with announcing the word of God and hearing confessions: he fulfilled this ministry with the greatest success, especially i n Weltkirch Weltkirchen Site of his priestly ministry and his devotion during the plague. en, where he was sent as superior of the convent, and where he brought about conversions that bordered on the miraculous, among others those of several Calvinists. A contagious disease having broken out among the garrison, and then among the inhabitants of Weltkirchen, Fidelis devoted himself entirely to the service of the plague-stricken: he was found at all hours and everywhere, in hospitals, in houses, and in public squares, caring for the body, caring for the soul, and more than once healing both at the same time through miracles. His reputation became such th Congrégation de la Propagande Roman institution that sent him on a mission to Switzerland. at the Congregation of the Propaganda, established by Gregory XV, having asked the provincial of the Capuchins for zealous missionaries formidable to error, to stop the torrent of heresy that was invading Switzerla canton des Grisons Region of Switzerland where he carried out his mission and suffered martyrdom. nd and especially the canton of Grisons, he was placed at the head of this mission. He accepted with all the more joy, as he hoped to have much to suffer among these coarse people, among these violent and irritated heretics. He even counted on martyrdom. Each of his steps was marked by conversions; in the first conferences he had with the Calvinists, he brought two gentlemen back to the truth. Who would not have been convinced hearing this Apostle defy the Protestant ministers, and overturn all their arguments; seeing him walk barefoot, catechize children, seek the lost sheep through ice, steep rocks, and precipices? His adversaries, finding no other way to respond to the power of his word and his examples, resolved his death, under the pretext that they wanted to free their country from the yoke of Austria, and that this monk was preaching servitude to them; he was, on the contrary, preaching to them the freedom of the children of God, inviting them to shake off the servitude of the demon. As for Austria, he pointed out to them as a friend that it could harshly repress the rebels, invade Switzerland, and ruin it by fire and sword. Informed that they were looking for an opportunity to shed his blood, he took no other precaution than that of going to confession, and continued his apostolic labors, wishing to die with weapons in hand. He signed his letters at that time: Brother Fidelis who must soon be food for worms. He went on April 24, 1622, fr om Gr Sévis Exact location of the saint's martyrdom. usch to Seewis, where he strongly exhorted the Catholics to remain inviolably attached to the faith. While he was preaching, a Calvinist fired a musket shot at him that did not hit him; and as he was begged to put his life in safety, he replied that he did not fear death and that he was ready to shed his blood for the cause of God. Having left the same day to return to Grusch, he fell into the hands of a troop of Calvinists who had a minister at their head. They treated him as a seducer and wanted to force him to embrace the so-called reform: "I have come to refute your errors, and not to embrace them," he replied to them, "and I am careful not to renounce the Catholic doctrine, which is the doctrine of all centuries. Moreover, know that I do not fear death." One of the troop having knocked him to the ground with a blow from a broadsword, he rose to his knees and made this prayer: "Lord Jesus, have pity on me; Saint Mary, Mother of God, assist me." He then received a second blow, which knocked him to the ground again, bathed in his blood; they then pierced him with several dagger blows: it is thus that he died a martyr, at the age of forty-five. Some time later, the Calvinists were defeated by the imperial forces, as the Saint had predicted to them, and the minister who commanded them was so struck by this prediction that he converted and publicly abjured heresy. The body of Saint Fidelis was taken to Weltkirchen, with the exception of his head and his left leg which had been separated from it by his murderers, and which were placed in the cathedral of Chur. Numerous miracles having been performed through his intercession, Benedict XIII beatified him in 1729, and Benedict XIV canonized him in 1745.

His attribute is the club or estramaçon, a type of heavy, broad-edged sword, the instrument with which he was bludgeoned. He is depicted with a crucifix in his hand, bearing a large wound on his head. Saint Fidelis is the first martyr among the missionaries sent by the Propaganda.

See the Life of Saint Fidelis, published in 1745 by Théodore de Paris, Capuchin.

His superiors were eager to make such virtues useful to his neighbor. When he had finished his theology course and had been raised to the priesthood, he was tasked with announcing the word of God and hearing confessions: he fulfilled this ministry with the greatest success, especially in Weltkirchen, where he was sent as superior of the convent, and where he performed conversions that bordered on the miraculous, among others those of several Calvinists. A contagious disease having broken out among the garrison, and then among the inhabitants of Weltkirchen, Fidelis devoted himself entirely to the service of the plague-stricken: he was found at all hours and everywhere, in hospitals, in houses and in squares, caring for the body, caring for the soul, and more than once healing both at the same time through miracles. His reputation became such that the Congregation of the Propaganda, established by Gregory XV, having asked the provincial of the Capuchins for zealous missionaries formidable to error, to stop the torrent of heresy that was invading Switzerland and especially the canton of Grisons, he was placed at the head of this mission. He accepted with all the more joy, as he hoped to have much to suffer among these coarse people, among these violent and irritated heretics. He even counted on martyrdom. Each of his steps was marked by conversions; in the first conferences he had with the Calvinists, he brought two gentlemen back to the truth. Who would not have been convinced hearing this Apostle defy the Protestant ministers, and overturn all their reasons; seeing him walk barefoot, catechize children, seek the lost sheep through ice, steep rocks and precipices? His adversaries, finding no other way to respond to the power of his word and his examples, resolved his death, under the pretext that they wanted to free their country from the yoke of Austria, and that this monk was preaching servitude to them; he was preaching to them on the contrary the freedom of the children of God, inviting them to shake off the servitude of the demon. As for Austria, he pointed out to them as a friend that it could harshly repress the rebels, invade Switzerland and ruin it by fire and sword. Informed that they were looking for an opportunity to shed his blood, he took no other precaution than that of going to confession, and continued his apostolic labors, wanting to die with weapons in hand. He signed his letters at that time: Brother Fidelis who must soon be food for worms. He went on April 24, 1622, from Grusch to Seewis, where he strongly exhorted the Catholics to remain inviolably attached to the faith. While he was preaching, a Calvinist fired a musket shot at him that did not hit him; and as they begged him to put his life in safety, he replied that he did not fear death and that he was ready to shed his blood for the cause of God. Having left the same day to return to Grusch, he fell into the hands of a troop of Calvinists who had a minister at their head. They treated him as a seducer, and wanted to force him to embrace the so-called reformation: "I have come to refute your errors, and not to embrace them," he replied to them, "and I am careful not to renounce the Catholic doctrine, which is the doctrine of all centuries. Moreover, know that I do not fear death." One of the troop having knocked him to the ground with a blow from an estramaçon, he rose to his knees and made this prayer: "Lord Jesus, have pity on me; Saint Mary, Mother of God, assist me." He then received a second blow, which knocked him to the ground again, bathed in his blood; he was then pierced with several dagger blows: this is how he died a martyr, at the age of forty-five. Some time later, the Calvinists were defeated by the imperial forces, as the Saint had predicted to them, and the minister who commanded them was so struck by this prediction that he converted and publicly abjured heresy. The body of Saint Fidelis was taken to Weltkirchen, with the exception of his head and his left leg which had been separated from it by his murderers, and which were placed in the cathedral of Chur. Numerous miracles having been performed through his intercession, Benedict XIII beatified him in 1729, and Benedict XIV canonized him in 1745.

His attribute is the club or estramaçon, a type of heavy, broad-edged sword, the instrument with which he was bludgeoned. He is depicted with a crucifix in his hand, bearing a large wound on his head. Saint Fidelis is the first martyr among the missionaries sent by the Propaganda.

See the Life of Saint Fidelis, published in 1745 by Théodore de Paris, Capuchin.