Raymond the Palmer
Encyclopedia
Saint Raymond of Piacenza (1139/40 – 26 July 1200), called the Palmer or Zanfogni, was a Catholic pilgrim
and religious
who practiced charity
to the poor and ill. Raymond's nickname, "the Palmer", derives from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, from which he brought back the customary palm frond. Such a pilgrim was called a Palmarius or Palmerius
. His feast day is 26 July.
Raymond's life is known from a Latin
vita
written in 1212, only twelve years after his death, by a certain Rufinus, at the instigation of Raymond's son Gerard. This was kept in the library of San Raimondo di Piacenza, a Cistercian convent, until 1525, when it was lent out to a Dominican
friar to be translated into Italian. It was never seen again. The Bollandist
Peter van der Bosch
translated the Italian back into Latin for the Acta Sanctorum
(July, vol. VI, col. 645–57). This version has been translated into English by Kenneth Baxter Wolf.
to parents "neither illustrious in origin nor completely lowborn", i.e., of the burgeoning middle class
. He was raised by his mother until about the age of twelve, and never received a thorough education, being still "unlettered" at his death. At about twelve he was sent by his father to learn the family trade of shoemaking
at a certain workshop. His father died when he was an adolescent (his biographer presumes that to be fourteen), and after receiving the permission of Bishop Hugh (1155–66), Raymond and his mother went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Raymond was ill for much of the journey and almost died on the return trip by sea.
Raymond's mother died soon after their return to Italy but before they reached Piacenza. At Piacenza Raymond's relatives persuaded him to marry, which he did, and he returned to shoemaking to support his family. In his leisure hours, his biographer writes, he conversed with religious men and became wise enough to preach, on holidays, in houses and workshops. His fame soon grew and people flocked to hear him. His biographer refers to him as their "spiritual leader", though he notes that Raymond refused to contravene canon law
by preaching publicly. Instead, he urged those of his listeners who wanted more to speak with a priest or a monk.
In the space of one year all five of Raymond's children died, probably of an epidemic. He tried to persuade his wife to abstain from sexual relations
so that they could devote themselves more fully to God, but she refused, saying "If I wished to be a nun, I would follow this advice. But since you have married me, it seems right to me to behave like a married woman, not like a widow or a nun". She bore him another child, a son named Gerard (Gerardo), whom Raymond secretly dedicated to Saint Brigid in her church at Piacenza. Shortly after his wife was afflicted with an incurable disease, to which she eventually succumbed, a fact which is treated by his biographer as Providence
. Raymond then took vow a celibacy
and, leaving Gerard and all his possessions (including his house) with his parents-in-law, left on a series of pilgrimages, which he planned to perform for the rest of his life.
, supporting himself by begging
. From Compostela he went to Vézelay
, where, since the mid-eleventh century, the body of Mary Magdalene
was said to lie. According to a legend that developed there Mary had lived out her life in penance
in the caves of the Sainte-Baume
near Marseille
after the ascension of Christ. Raymond visited there and then hurried through Provence
, where he visited the shrine of the Three Maries at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
in the Camargue
. From there he visited the shrine of Saint Anthony
at Vienne
and that of Saint Bernard
, either at Clairvaux
or Menthon. He returned to Italy and visited the shrine of Augustine of Hippo
at Pavia
. He then proceeded to Rome
.
While he was sleeping under a portico at the Basilica of Saint Peter, contemplating another pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he had a vision of Jesus Christ, who told him to return to Piacenza and "lead the rich to almsgiving, rival parties to peace, and those who have strayed—especially wayward women—to a proper way of life". He claimed that Christ had told him to wear a sky-blue, knee-length garment with loose sleeves and no hood, and to always carry a cross over his shoulder. These thing he adopted in the Val di Taro, on his way back to Piacenza. He also wore a traveller's cap, perhaps as a reminder of his former pilgrim's life.
from the rich. He soon attracted a large number of beggars and religiously-motivated persons who helped him in his task. He established a domicile attached to the canonry for women, "which was somewhat better furnished and yet more closed off" than the original building, where he housed the men in need of shelter. He also began a ministry to prostitutes, some of whom were convinced to marry and some to become nuns, while some continued in their prostitution.
Raymond also acted as advocate of the poor before the civic tribunal, which, Rufinus boasts, "often deferred to his judgment with regard to what ought be done". He tried to stem in Piacenza the factionalism and party strife that was endemic in the cities of northern Italy, but in this he was largely unsuccessful. He eventually prophesied destruction for Piacenza: "Woe to you, seditious Piacenza! God has already prepared a scourge with which to beat you. You will be plundered and set on fire. You will lose your fortunes and your lives." Rufinus wrote that this prophecy had been fulfilled since Raymond's death, but no fire and plundering is known from any other records. Raymond tried to intervene to prevent a war between Piacenza and Cremona
, but the Cremonese imprisoned him. He was eventually released because of his sanctity.
Raymond was also an opponent of knightly hastilude
s (his biographer calls them "Trojan games ... [a] kind of gladiatorial contest [for "mounted men"] in which brawling, injury, and murder were commonplace"), which he sought to outlaw. He reputedly dragged the bishop and the city magistrate (or prefect) to these events to put a stop to them, since he himself could not convince the youths to stop. Influenced by his own spell in jail, he also began visiting prisons, and spoke on behalf of many prisoners whom he had converted, some of whom later went on to join the canonry of the Twelve Apostles.
Raymond's institutions also took in abandoned children, whom he is said to have gathered up himself. Raymond had a "keen sense of the social realities of poverty and marginality" and he once led a demonstration of beggars through the streets crying out for help from the rich. He was on good terms with the bishops of Piacenza throughout his life, though this did not prevent his criticising their inaction against factionalism.
of Martin V
in 1422.
Between 1208 and 1247 many miracle
s were reportedly wrought through Raymond's intercession throughout Lombardy
. Rufinus records how a German living in the Piedmont
, Ogerius by name, accidentally swallowed a bone during a Christmas meal, which lodged in his chest and caused him great pain. Informed by a friend returning from Piacenza of Raymond's tomb there, he vowed to visit it if he should be cured. Immediately he regurgitated the bone and brought it to Raymond's tomb, to be hung up there as a memorial of the miracle. In the county of Lavagna
in the diocese of Genoa a certain girl who was possessed by a demon
taunted the exorcists with "Raymond expels [demons] easily", explaining to her parents, Sophia and Hugo, that Raymond was "a new saint [beatus
] among the people of Piacenza". Her parents brought her to his tomb and the demon was expelled. News of this spread throughout Lavagna until it reached a certain nobleman, Bernard de la Torre, and his wife Gelasia, who had a paralysed daughter named Mabilina. Gelasia prayed that if God would heal Mabilina she would send a wax statuette to adorn Raymond's tomb. Five days later Mabilina was walking; Gelasia fulfilled her vow.
Rufinus also tells of a locally famous Pavian woman, Berta, who was possessed and tormented by three demons named Tralinus, Capricius, and Carincius. Many tried to exorcise them by singing the so-called "Verses of Saint Maurice" to her, and her sister led her from church to church. Eventually she was brought to the tomb of Raymond, where she was almost instantaneously healed. Rufinus also describes how a man named, ironically, Gerald Vitalis from Ripa
, in the county of Piacenza, suffered from "a hernia such that the intestines, sunken into his abdominal cavity, swelled to the point that he was unable to walk or engage in any kind of work". He was unconvinced, despite the entreaties of his wife, that Raymond was a saint, but he eventually agreed to accompany her to his tomb, where he was, over the course of a few days, healed. In thanks "he donated two measures of wine every year to the poor of Raymond's hospital, so that from that time on the caretakers of this same institution, accustomed to going about asking for donations of wine, could henceforth depend on a more stable supply."
Rufinus also describes a Venetian
woman named Maria, a hunchback
(though Rufinus avoids this term) so bent over that "you might even say that she was a quadruped
". After completing the laborious journey to Raymond's tomb and praying there, she was healed and could walk upright without a cane. At about the same time there was in Acquense (the area around Acqui Terme
) a man named Lomellus, who "had to bind his bowels with an iron belt", and his wife, who had "been confined to bed for an entire year". Lomellus promised God that if he were healed he would make a pilgrimage to Raymond's tomb. His belt promptly fell off and broke into pieces. His wife, who saw it, swore that she would accompany him and immediately she too was healed.
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
and religious
Religious (Catholicism)
In the lexicon of certain branches of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox branches, religious as a noun usually refers to a member of a religious order of monks, nuns, friars, clerics regular, or other individuals who take the three vows of poverty, chastity, and...
who practiced charity
Charity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
to the poor and ill. Raymond's nickname, "the Palmer", derives from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, from which he brought back the customary palm frond. Such a pilgrim was called a Palmarius or Palmerius
Palmer (pilgrim)
In the Middle Ages, a palmer was a Christian Pilgrim, normally from Western Europe, who had visited the holy places in Palestine, and who, as a token of his visit, brought back a palm leaf, or a palm leaf folded into a cross...
. His feast day is 26 July.
Raymond's life is known from a Latin
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
vita
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
written in 1212, only twelve years after his death, by a certain Rufinus, at the instigation of Raymond's son Gerard. This was kept in the library of San Raimondo di Piacenza, a Cistercian convent, until 1525, when it was lent out to a Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
friar to be translated into Italian. It was never seen again. The Bollandist
Bollandist
The Bollandists are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians who since the early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christianity. Their most important publication has been the Acta Sanctorum...
Peter van der Bosch
Peter van der Bosch
Peter van der Bosch was a Bollandist .After studying the humanities at the College of Brussels from 1698 to 1705, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Mechlin on 25 September 1705...
translated the Italian back into Latin for the Acta Sanctorum
Acta Sanctorum
Acta Sanctorum is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. It begins with two January volumes, published in 1643, and ended with the Propylaeum to...
(July, vol. VI, col. 645–57). This version has been translated into English by Kenneth Baxter Wolf.
Childhood and married life
Raymond was born at PiacenzaPiacenza
Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...
to parents "neither illustrious in origin nor completely lowborn", i.e., of the burgeoning middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
. He was raised by his mother until about the age of twelve, and never received a thorough education, being still "unlettered" at his death. At about twelve he was sent by his father to learn the family trade of shoemaking
Shoemaking
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...
at a certain workshop. His father died when he was an adolescent (his biographer presumes that to be fourteen), and after receiving the permission of Bishop Hugh (1155–66), Raymond and his mother went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Raymond was ill for much of the journey and almost died on the return trip by sea.
Raymond's mother died soon after their return to Italy but before they reached Piacenza. At Piacenza Raymond's relatives persuaded him to marry, which he did, and he returned to shoemaking to support his family. In his leisure hours, his biographer writes, he conversed with religious men and became wise enough to preach, on holidays, in houses and workshops. His fame soon grew and people flocked to hear him. His biographer refers to him as their "spiritual leader", though he notes that Raymond refused to contravene canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
by preaching publicly. Instead, he urged those of his listeners who wanted more to speak with a priest or a monk.
In the space of one year all five of Raymond's children died, probably of an epidemic. He tried to persuade his wife to abstain from sexual relations
Sexual abstinence
Sexual abstinence is the practice of refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity for medical, psychological, legal, social, philosophical or religious reasons.Common reasons for practicing sexual abstinence include:*poor health - medical celibacy...
so that they could devote themselves more fully to God, but she refused, saying "If I wished to be a nun, I would follow this advice. But since you have married me, it seems right to me to behave like a married woman, not like a widow or a nun". She bore him another child, a son named Gerard (Gerardo), whom Raymond secretly dedicated to Saint Brigid in her church at Piacenza. Shortly after his wife was afflicted with an incurable disease, to which she eventually succumbed, a fact which is treated by his biographer as Providence
Divine Providence
In Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...
. Raymond then took vow a celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
and, leaving Gerard and all his possessions (including his house) with his parents-in-law, left on a series of pilgrimages, which he planned to perform for the rest of his life.
Pilgrimages
Raymond first followed the Way of Saint James to Santiago de CompostelaSantiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
, supporting himself by begging
Begging
Begging is to entreat earnestly, implore, or supplicate. It often occurs for the purpose of securing a material benefit, generally for a gift, donation or charitable donation...
. From Compostela he went to Vézelay
Vézelay
Vézelay is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France. It is a defendable hill town famous for Vézelay Abbey. The town and the Basilica of St Magdelene are designated UNESCO World Heritage sites....
, where, since the mid-eleventh century, the body of Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
was said to lie. According to a legend that developed there Mary had lived out her life in penance
Penance
Penance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
in the caves of the Sainte-Baume
Sainte-Baume
The Sainte-Baume is a mountain ridge spreading between the départements of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var in southern France...
near Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
after the ascension of Christ. Raymond visited there and then hurried through Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, where he visited the shrine of the Three Maries at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the capital of the Camargue in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department by the Mediterranean Sea. Population: 2,478...
in the Camargue
Camargue
The Camargue is the region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône....
. From there he visited the shrine of Saint Anthony
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
at Vienne
Vienne
Vienne is the northernmost département of the Poitou-Charentes region of France, named after the river Vienne.- Viennese history :Vienne is one of the original 83 departments, established on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou,...
and that of Saint Bernard
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...
, either at Clairvaux
Clairvaux
Clairvaux can mean the following:*Clairvaux, a former commune in France, now part of Ville-sous-la-Ferté. It is the home of**Clairvaux Abbey in France**Clairvaux Prison, France, on the site of the abbey*Saint Bernard of Clairvaux...
or Menthon. He returned to Italy and visited the shrine of Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
at Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
. He then proceeded to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
While he was sleeping under a portico at the Basilica of Saint Peter, contemplating another pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he had a vision of Jesus Christ, who told him to return to Piacenza and "lead the rich to almsgiving, rival parties to peace, and those who have strayed—especially wayward women—to a proper way of life". He claimed that Christ had told him to wear a sky-blue, knee-length garment with loose sleeves and no hood, and to always carry a cross over his shoulder. These thing he adopted in the Val di Taro, on his way back to Piacenza. He also wore a traveller's cap, perhaps as a reminder of his former pilgrim's life.
Spiritual leadership at Piacenza
At Piacenza Raymond, then thirty-eight years of age, received the support of Bishop Theobald (1167–92) and the canonry of the Twelve Apostles gave him a large building next to theirs, where he established a xenodochium (1178). He set about gathering those who were to ashamed or to infirm to beg, and went through the streets calling out for almsAlms
Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...
from the rich. He soon attracted a large number of beggars and religiously-motivated persons who helped him in his task. He established a domicile attached to the canonry for women, "which was somewhat better furnished and yet more closed off" than the original building, where he housed the men in need of shelter. He also began a ministry to prostitutes, some of whom were convinced to marry and some to become nuns, while some continued in their prostitution.
Raymond also acted as advocate of the poor before the civic tribunal, which, Rufinus boasts, "often deferred to his judgment with regard to what ought be done". He tried to stem in Piacenza the factionalism and party strife that was endemic in the cities of northern Italy, but in this he was largely unsuccessful. He eventually prophesied destruction for Piacenza: "Woe to you, seditious Piacenza! God has already prepared a scourge with which to beat you. You will be plundered and set on fire. You will lose your fortunes and your lives." Rufinus wrote that this prophecy had been fulfilled since Raymond's death, but no fire and plundering is known from any other records. Raymond tried to intervene to prevent a war between Piacenza and Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
, but the Cremonese imprisoned him. He was eventually released because of his sanctity.
Raymond was also an opponent of knightly hastilude
Hastilude
Hastilude is a generic term used in the Middle Ages to refer to many kinds of martial games. The word comes from the Latin hastiludium, literally "lance game"'...
s (his biographer calls them "Trojan games ... [a] kind of gladiatorial contest [for "mounted men"] in which brawling, injury, and murder were commonplace"), which he sought to outlaw. He reputedly dragged the bishop and the city magistrate (or prefect) to these events to put a stop to them, since he himself could not convince the youths to stop. Influenced by his own spell in jail, he also began visiting prisons, and spoke on behalf of many prisoners whom he had converted, some of whom later went on to join the canonry of the Twelve Apostles.
Raymond's institutions also took in abandoned children, whom he is said to have gathered up himself. Raymond had a "keen sense of the social realities of poverty and marginality" and he once led a demonstration of beggars through the streets crying out for help from the rich. He was on good terms with the bishops of Piacenza throughout his life, though this did not prevent his criticising their inaction against factionalism.
Death and subsequent miracles
Raymond died of a fever on 26 July 1200 at the age of sixty. He had called his son to his bedside, where he convinced him to take up the religious life. His body quickly drew throngs of visitors, and Bishop Grimerio buried him in the canonry, where his tomb attracted suppliants even from Cremona. The city established a Hospital of Saint Raymond (Hospitale sancti Raymundi) with the gifts made in his name. The aforementioned Cistercian convent of San Raimondo in Piacenza was also named after Raymond. His veneration was approved by a papal bullPapal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
of Martin V
Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V , born Odo Colonna, was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism .-Biography:...
in 1422.
Between 1208 and 1247 many miracle
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
s were reportedly wrought through Raymond's intercession throughout Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
. Rufinus records how a German living in the Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
, Ogerius by name, accidentally swallowed a bone during a Christmas meal, which lodged in his chest and caused him great pain. Informed by a friend returning from Piacenza of Raymond's tomb there, he vowed to visit it if he should be cured. Immediately he regurgitated the bone and brought it to Raymond's tomb, to be hung up there as a memorial of the miracle. In the county of Lavagna
Lavagna
Lavagna is a fishing port city of c. 13,000 inhabitants in the curving stretch of the Italian Riviera di Levante called the gulf of Tigullio, in the province of Genoa in Liguria. The borgo of Lavagna was an important Ligurian cultural center in the Middle Ages...
in the diocese of Genoa a certain girl who was possessed by a demon
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
taunted the exorcists with "Raymond expels [demons] easily", explaining to her parents, Sophia and Hugo, that Raymond was "a new saint [beatus
Beatus
Beatus, meaning blessed in Medieval Latin, may mean:*a term in the Catholic Church for a person who has been beatified, the stage before being declared a saint.* A copy of the Commentary on the Apocalypse, Beatus, meaning blessed in Medieval Latin, may mean:*a term in the Catholic Church for a...
] among the people of Piacenza". Her parents brought her to his tomb and the demon was expelled. News of this spread throughout Lavagna until it reached a certain nobleman, Bernard de la Torre, and his wife Gelasia, who had a paralysed daughter named Mabilina. Gelasia prayed that if God would heal Mabilina she would send a wax statuette to adorn Raymond's tomb. Five days later Mabilina was walking; Gelasia fulfilled her vow.
Rufinus also tells of a locally famous Pavian woman, Berta, who was possessed and tormented by three demons named Tralinus, Capricius, and Carincius. Many tried to exorcise them by singing the so-called "Verses of Saint Maurice" to her, and her sister led her from church to church. Eventually she was brought to the tomb of Raymond, where she was almost instantaneously healed. Rufinus also describes how a man named, ironically, Gerald Vitalis from Ripa
Ripa
Ripa is a Latin word, meaning the bank of a river. The word is part of the name of a number of places, mainly in Italy.Ripa may refer to:-People:*Albert de Rippe , Italian lutenist and composer, also known as Alberto da Ripa...
, in the county of Piacenza, suffered from "a hernia such that the intestines, sunken into his abdominal cavity, swelled to the point that he was unable to walk or engage in any kind of work". He was unconvinced, despite the entreaties of his wife, that Raymond was a saint, but he eventually agreed to accompany her to his tomb, where he was, over the course of a few days, healed. In thanks "he donated two measures of wine every year to the poor of Raymond's hospital, so that from that time on the caretakers of this same institution, accustomed to going about asking for donations of wine, could henceforth depend on a more stable supply."
Rufinus also describes a Venetian
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
woman named Maria, a hunchback
Hunchback
Hunchback may refer to one of the following.*A derogatory term for a person who has severe kyphosis*The Hunchback of Notre Dame*Hunchback , an arcade and computer game from the 1980s*The Hunchback, a 1914 film featuring Lillian Gish...
(though Rufinus avoids this term) so bent over that "you might even say that she was a quadruped
Quadruped
Quadrupedalism is a form of land animal locomotion using four limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a quadrupedal manner is known as a quadruped, meaning "four feet"...
". After completing the laborious journey to Raymond's tomb and praying there, she was healed and could walk upright without a cane. At about the same time there was in Acquense (the area around Acqui Terme
Acqui Terme
Acqui Terme is a city and comune of Piedmont, northern Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is c. 35 km SSW of Alessandria...
) a man named Lomellus, who "had to bind his bowels with an iron belt", and his wife, who had "been confined to bed for an entire year". Lomellus promised God that if he were healed he would make a pilgrimage to Raymond's tomb. His belt promptly fell off and broke into pieces. His wife, who saw it, swore that she would accompany him and immediately she too was healed.