Above: St. Nicholas of Flue
Image in the Public Domain
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SAINT NICHOLAS OF FLUE (MARCH 21, 1417-MARCH 21, 1487)
Swiss Hermit and Statesman
Also known as Brother Klaus and Saint Nicholas von Flue
His feast day = March 21
Alternative feast day = September 25
grandfather of
BLESSED CONRAD SCHEUBER (1481-MARCH 5, 1559)
Swiss Hermit
His feast transferred from March 5
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My Lord and my God,
remove from me
whatever keeps me from you.
My Lord and my God,
confer upon me
whatever enables me to reach you.
My Lord and my God,
free me from self
and make me wholly yours.
–St. Nicholas of Flue
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The vocation to be a hermit is a legitimate one–one which many people do not have yet which certain ones do. May no person whom God has chosen not to grant that calling ridicule or underestimate it in those whom God has called to become hermits.
St. Nicholas of Flue lived for 70 years to the day. He, born on March 21, 1417, in Sachsen, Switzerland, came from a relatively wealthy peasant family. He was a farmer and a councilor and a judge in the canon of Unterwalden. He also rejected an opportunity to become the governor. During a war against the secessionist canon of Zurich our saint commanded soldiers. He also condemned wars of aggression and the slaughter of non-combatants as immoral.
At the age of 30 St. Nicholas married Dorothy Wiss. The couple had 10 children in 20 years. Shortly after the birth of his youngest child our saint discerned a vocation to become a hermit. He reported a vision of a harnessed draft horse (representing his life as a farmer) eating a lily (representing his spiritual life). With his family’s consent he became a hermit. St. Nicholas spent most of his time as a hermit in the Ranft Valley. Each day he assisted with the Mass and spent most of his time in prayer. The hermit, renowned for his piety, attracted many spiritual students. In 1481 he left his hermitage long enough to mediate a dispute that threatened to lead to a civil war. Once our saint had ensured national unity, he resumed his routine as a hermit. St. Nicholas died, surrounded by his family, in 1487.
Pope Innocent X beatified St. Nicholas in 1649. Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1947.
St. Nicholas is the patron of Switzerland, councilmen, separated spouses, difficult marriages, Swiss Guards, large families, parents of large families, and magistrates.
One of the descendants of St. Nicholas was a grandson, Blessed Conrad Scheuber, born at Altfallen, Switzerland, in 1481. He was a hermit first at the hermitage of St. Nicholas then at Wolfenschiessen. He died at Bettelrutti, Switzerland, on March 5, 1559.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 21, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS MIROCLES OF MILAN AND EPIPHANIUS OF PAVIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ALBAN ROE AND THOMAS REYNOLDS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF SAINT GASPAR DEL BUFALO, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN YI YON-ON, ROMAN CATHOLIC CATECHIST AND MARTYR IN KOREA
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O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich:
Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we,
inspired by the devotion of your servants Saints Nicholas of Flue and Blessed Conrad Scheuber,
may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Song of Songs 8:6-7
Psalm 34
Philippians 3:7-15
Luke 12:33-37 or Luke 9:57-62
–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 722
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