By DEB PIROCH
There exist numerous accounts throughout the ages of appearances by souls from Purgatory, asking for Masses to be said so they might be released from their suffering and sped to Heaven. Padre Pio, for instance, often received visits from such deceased persons and the first time was frightened, having realized he had spoken to someone who was no longer among the living!
Just such another associated with the Holy Souls is St. Nicholas of Tolentino (1245-1305). It is said he was shown a vision of Purgatory by a soul begging him for prayers, and then souls were released on account of Masses said. During this time of pandemic, when we are told we are released from our obligation to attend Mass, it is easy to forget the power the Mass contains in tremendous graces. St. Faustina once said that if angels were capable of such an emotion, they would envy mankind for two reasons; one being that we are able to receive the Eucharist at Mass, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord. The other is that we can offer our sufferings to God. St. Nicholas was known for both. But first, to his origins.
His parents reportedly had difficulty conceiving and prayed successfully to St. Nicholas of Myra, hence his birthname of Nicholas. So often children already show inklings of their future and so, too, with this Nicholas; he would hide in caves and pray and pretend that he was living the life of a hermit. Indeed, near where he grew up he had witnessed holy men praying, fasting, and living lives of poverty, which certainly had an influence on his childhood. Even when Nicholas was quite young, Alban Butler, author of Butler’s Lives, states that he already fasted three days weekly. By his eighteenth birthday, Nicholas was a monk and eight years later ordained a priest. His order? The Augustinians. In fact, he was the first canonized Augustinian saint — by Pope Eugene IV (also an Augustinian).
He takes his name from where he lived, in Tolentino, Italy. One day he was said to hear angels repeating the words, “. . . to Tolentino, to Tolentino.” From this he felt he was given a sign to move to that location and worked there the remainder of his life.
Devotion To The Poor,
The Suffering
St. Nicholas became known as a miracle worker. Even before Tolentino, he was placed in charge of the daily distribution of food at the monastery gate. He gave so much away he was reported to the prior. But it was during this duty at San Ganesio that he first placed his hand on the head of a sick boy and said, “The good God will heal you.” And the child’s illness vanished. He used the same words later working another miracle, curing a woman of blindness.
When Nicholas would be one day canonized, over three hundred miracles and three resurrections were included in the testimonies as proof of his sanctity. Alleged among the resurrections in his history are said to be over 100 drowned children! More to the point. . . . Whenever he worked a miracle, it is said that Nicholas told the recipient, “Say nothing of this, give thanks to God, not to me. I am only a vessel of clay, a poor sinner.” Just as when Christ told others who were healed to go forth and say nothing, the word must have spread like wildfire!
Besides ministering to the poor in their suffering through healings and alms, St. Nicholas was also known for his fasting. While it seems a bit extreme, one account relates he fasted even from his mother’s breastmilk. However, he did fast from a young age, even before becoming a monk. After joining the religious life, his fasts became long and extreme to the point of inducing weakness.
The story goes that an Augustinian custom of distributing bread came from an event in the life of St. Nicholas. He never ate meat, but was ordered to eat meat and other strengthening food by his superiors. He was truly torn between offering up corporal sacrifice and his rule of obedience. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him and told him to make a cross on some bread, dip it in water, and eat it. Doing so he recovered his strength and so-called “St. Nicholas bread” became an Augustinian tradition.
The Augustinians have a unique charism and follow a rule that was written by St. Augustine four hundred years after Christ. The rule of St. Benedict followed over a century later, and the rule of St. Francis nearly 800 years later. These rules discussed fasting and abstinence, prayer, chastity, humility, obedience, nothing owned individually but only in common, and so on. St. Nicholas, in addition to fasting and poverty, spent much time in preaching and witnessing to Christ by preaching in public.
All accounts of Nicholas say his aim in street preaching was not to “show off,” but rather to bring souls to God. As one expects, such sermonizing arouses the best or worst in those who hear talk of God. One man who lived a particularly evil life often tormented Nicholas until one day he actually stopped and listened to the words he spoke. Yes, he converted. And when Nicholas was not about all these other tasks, he would spend — like Padre Pio — hours and hours hearing Confessions and ministering to those who needed aid.
There seems no doubt, however, that he did indeed see at least one or more souls from Purgatory, and later — in 1884 — Pope Leo XIII would thus proclaim him a patron of the Holy Souls. Nicholas heard a voice, which upon identification, turned out to be a friar that Nicholas had known when he lived, Friar Pellegrino of Osimo. Now deceased, he begged Nicholas to pray for his soul, so that he might be released from Purgatory.
In some accounts Nicholas agrees and after a week of Masses, we are told the Friar appeared again to thank him for his deliverance and that of other souls as well. A more descriptive version occurs in some places. In this retelling, Nicholas says he is not in charge of the Masses and unable to do so, upon which Friar Pellegrino shows him a vision of the suffering in Purgatory. Nicholas is so upset by this, he approached his superiors the next morning, was granted permission to say the Masses for the dead, and achieved the same result.
In his second vision he was able to see not only Friar Pellegrino but shown many others granted release, due to his good auspices. For the rest of his life, he had a great devotion to the poor souls, and never ceased to offer sacrifices for them.
When he died, it was a most holy death. Seeing God and St. Augustine, his final words were, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Rather like Pope St. John Paul II, many immediately advocated for his sainthood. This came, however, in 1446.
As a postscript, his arms were stolen from his body about 50 years after his death. Though they were returned, the monks hid his body which has not been found to this day. The arms are to be found as relics in the church that bears his name in Tolentino. And his arms are said to bleed profusely when Holy Mother Church is in danger.
His feast day is September 10 (old calendar).
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