Saint John of Matha

John of Matha had finished his studies; an order from his father, the baron, recalled him to the bosom of his family. He had to return to Faucon. The natural attraction he had for the contemplative life led him to make the most earnest requests to his parents, and he obtained from them permission to withdraw into a nearby solitude. He took refuge there, less with the desire to settle there than to consult God about his vocation, and to be freer in his exercises of piety and his mortifications.

At the end of a year, having understood that he had to perfect his studies, he returned to his family, asking to be allowed to go to Paris. The university of that capital was then the first in the world and the meeting place of the finest talents. Moreover, the lord of Faucon was on friendly terms with Maurice de Sully, Bishop of Paris, with the Abbot of Sainte-Geneviève, the Abbot of Saint-Victor, and with several other illustrious personages. These reasons meant that the son's request did not meet with any serious opposition from the father.

John of Matha arrived in Paris around the year 1180. He was affectionately welcomed by the high-ranking personages of whom we have spoken; but this gracious reception did not spare the young protégé the boredom that the tumult of cities inspires in a heart that knows how to live in solitude. The noisy pleasures that followed the lessons of the school made him regret for a moment the delights of the paternal roof and the quiet stay of his hermitage in Faucon. He was agitated by these thoughts, without daring to share them with his illustrious protectors, for fear of wounding their benevolence; finally, he opened up to God, to whom he was accustomed to confiding everything. Prostrate in the church of the abbey of Sainte-Geneviève, he was laying his new anxieties at the foot of the altar, when he heard distinctly, three different times, these words of Wisdom pronounced: Stude sapientiae, fili mi, et lætifica cor meum. Study wisdom, O my son, and you will gladden my heart.

This divine oracle was understood, and John of Matha rose, well resolved to devote himself with ardor to the study of theology; but wishing above all to work for the sanctification of his soul, he placed himself under the guidance of Maurice de Sully. No one was, in fact, more capable than this bishop of directing a Saint. The pious young man did not limit himself to this first measure; he chose some friends, in whose intimacy he found strength and courage to walk in the difficult path of perfection. The one who bonded most closely with him was an Italia n gentleman, Jean Lothaire Pope who commissioned Pierre de Castelnau against the Albigensians. called John Lothaire, descended from the illustrious blood of Conti. In a conversation, John of Matha predicted to him that he would, one day, be seated on the chair of Saint Peter. This prophecy was realized, and Lothaire governed the Catholic world under the name of Innocent III.

As soon as our Saint had finished his theological studies, the University strongly urged him to take his degrees. For his part, the Bishop of Paris believed that such a distinguished talent could serve the Church very usefully. Although the new doctor had directed all his studies toward this latter goal, he resisted for a long time, then he allowed himself to be overcome, and heaven itself seemed to confirm this generous resolution, for at the solemn moment when the bishop pronounced these words: "Receive the Holy Spirit," a column of fire was seen to come and rest on the head of the young priest.

This prodigy and the well-known holiness of Matha had attracted a large crowd to his first Mass. At the moment when this earthly seraph raised the holy host to offer it to the adoration of those present, his face was seen to ignite, his gaze to fix itself, astonished and tender, and his head, surrounded by a luminous halo, to shine with a supernatural brilliance. The Bishop of Paris and the two venerable abbots already designated above did not doubt that John had been favored with some vision.

The sacrifice finished, they took him aside and asked him what it was about. The Saint, seeing himself pressed so hard by his consecrating bishop, who had over him the authority that age, virtue, and a high position in the Church give, said to him: "Well! my father, since you command me, I will tell you; I do not believe I am mistaken: it was the angel of the Lord; he was carried on a resplendent cloud; his face radiated a bright and gentle light; his garments were white as snow; he wore on his chest a cross of two colors, red and azure; at his feet, and in the posture of suppliants, were two slaves loaded with chains, one a Moor and the other a Christian; his crossed hands rested, the right on the Christian, the left on the Moor; that, my father, is what I saw."

This communication was received with a silence of astonishment, then various conjectures were made. The Saint was urged to have recourse to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, to have a decision on the matter; but humility restrained John of Matha who, delivered from that moment to a painful anxiety, fled secretly, without anyone knowing the path he had taken.

God had directed the steps of John of Matha into the mountains near Gandelu, in the diocese of Meaux, where he found Felix of Valois Félix de Valois Co-founder of the Trinitarian Order. , of whom he had heard vaguely. The sight of Felix so impressed the young doctor that he could not hide his emotion, and he expressed himself in terms that alarmed the humility of the anchorite. After their first outpourings, he was introduced into a modest oratory, where a fervent prayer prepared them both for holy confidences. John of Matha opened his heart first to the one whom Providence offered him as a guide, and begged him to suffer him to stay by his side. Felix, attentive to his whole story, admired by what mysterious ways the Lord was preparing this privileged soul. It was agreed between them that they would wait, in this deep solitude, for new lights, and that they would finish purifying their hearts of everything that could be an obstacle to grace. Three years had already passed in pious exercises, when one day, while discussing holy things, according to their custom, they saw a white stag that came to drink at a spring of living water. It carried between its antlers a red and blue cross, consistent with the one that John of Matha had, in his vision, noticed on the chest of the angel. This new miraculous sign, and especially the light of grace that shone in their eyes, revealed to them the secret designs of Providence, which was calling them to the work of the redemption of captives. Obeying the divine inspiration, they left their dear solitude and went to Paris, in order to communicate their plans to the bishop and the abbots of Saint-Geneviève and Saint-Victor. The prelate, who was Eudes de Sully, successor to Maurice, strongly approved their enterprise and gave them letters of recommendation for Pope Celestine III. Provided with these petitions, our two Saints left for Rome, around the middle of December in the year 1197. But, during their journey, the Sovereign Pontiff had died, and the Italian nobleman, Lothair of Segni, to whom John of Matha had predicted that he would be raised to the pontifical throne, had been elected Pope at the age of thirty-six; he took the name Innocent III. The new Pontiff welcomed them as envoys f rom heaven; Innocent III Pope who commissioned Pierre de Castelnau against the Albigensians. he lodged them in his Lateran palace, granted them several audiences, and, after having heard them at length, he submitted to the examination of the Sacred College this project whose importance he understood: he also wished to interest heaven in a very special way in this work of salvation. He therefore made an appeal to public piety, and he decided that, on January 28, a mass for this intention would be celebrated in the Lateran Basilica. Indeed, the holy sacrifice took place in accordance with this order; and at the consecration, at the moment when the divine victim was presented for public adoration, a miraculous spectacle struck the eyes of Innocent III: it was the angel of the Lord who had appeared to John of Matha and who was showing himself again, clothed in the same habit, in the same posture, and surrounded by two slaves. The Vicar of Jesus Christ hesitated no longer; he summoned the two servants of God, and told them that there was no need to deliberate, that their design entered into the views of Providence, and that he, Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, was happy to open his pontificate with the realization of such a praiseworthy project; he added that, in four days, he would himself give them a costume similar to the one under which the angel had appeared to him, a costume that all the disciples of the new Order would wear. John and Felix prepared themselves, by fasting and prayer, for the reception of this holy habit; on the day of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, they vowed their existence to the redemption of Christian slaves, and under the auspices of Mary their mother, they donned, with the habit of the Order, the liveries of Christian charity. In a touching address, the pontiff developed the thought that the work of redemption gave those who dedicated themselves to it the glorious privilege of sharing, in a way, the mission of Jesus Christ, but that it thereby vowed them to the humiliations and sorrows of the cross, and commanded them to have strong and generous virtues; that the triple color of their habit would remind them of purity of heart and intention, mortification and penance, and finally ardent charity and sublime devotion; and that, to summarize the greatness and duties of the vocation of these religious in the very name of the institute, he wanted it to be called: the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the redemption of captives: Ordo sanctissimae Trini l'Ordre de la très-sainte Trinité pour la rédemption des captifs Religious of the Redemption of Captives, nicknamed Mathurins. tatis de redemptione captivorum. By this judgment, the authority of the Holy See had just placed the work of Saint John of Matha and Saint Felix of Valois among the great institutions of the Church, even before the constitutions were written. No one was more capable of definitively formulating this vast design than those to whom God had permitted to conceive it; nevertheless, the Bishop of Paris and the Abbot of Saint-Victor, having a paternal tenderness for John of Matha, the Sovereign Pontiff wished that they should continue to bring to this work the tribute of their lights and their experience. Provided with the blessing of the Holy Father, the two holy founders therefore set out for Paris, and two months later, they were back in that capital.

The arrival of John of Matha had stirred the entire University; the memory of his virtues and his glory still lived among the masters and the students; the new books of the young doctor, his way of life, and his immense projects were long the subject of conversation in the learned world.

John the Englishman and William the Scot, who were giving missions to root out heresy, came to confer with their former fellow student. Upon leaving this meeting, they opened up to their friends, among others to Roger Deès, also English by birth, about the plan they had to enter the new Order of the Most Holy Trinity. But the latter, having let slip a few ironic words against the enterprise, was suddenly covered in leprosy. Immediately he went to ask forgiveness of John of Matha, obtained his healing, dedicated himself to the work, and, to remember his fault and the miracle of which he had been the object, he would no longer bear any name other than that of Roger the Leper. To these three distinguished men joined several doctors of the famous university.

While waiting for the constitutions of the Order to be drafted, John of Matha gave his new disciples the prudence and holiness of Felix as a rule, and sent them under his guidance to Ce rfroy, Cerfroy First establishment and motherhouse of the Trinitarian Order. where the lords of the land immediately secured them a vast establishment.

But our Saint did not delay in going to join them and submitting the barely written rule to the wisdom of Felix.

We know the successes and setbacks that the Christian warriors known as Crusaders experienced in turn in the East. A large number of them, by the chances of war, fell into the hands of the infidels and became slaves. At the same time, Moorish corsairs infested the seas and seized crews and passengers, whom they then crowded into the foul dungeons of Morocco, Algiers, or Tunis. These unfortunates only left there to go and do the work of beasts of burden in the city or in the countryside. To these physical evils were added moral violences, by which they sought to tear the Christian faith from their souls and make them apostates. Religion and humanity therefore cried out for a force powerful enough to break the chains of these captives, snatch these victims from the danger of being lost eternally, and defeat Muslim barbarism on this land of Africa, once so Catholic. This force, John of Matha would find in the organization of an association of liberators who, faithful depositaries of the resources of public charity, would go, through a thousand perils, to restore to the slaves the happiness of living as Christians and free men.

Furthermore, so that the members who dedicated themselves to this holy work could more easily acquire the spirit of sacrifice and preserve it; so that it would be possible for them to use their final years, during which, afflicted by serious infirmities, they could no longer undertake long journeys; and also so that, in the event that the ransom of captives, the main goal of the institute, became impossible, the entire Order would not be in the necessity of dissolving, they also proposed the relief of the unfortunate and the care of the sick. This triple goal required from those who wished to attain it, abnegation, obedience, and selflessness. Hence, the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; hence, a general director designated by the humble name of Minister, and several provincial superiors subject to the Minister, but having themselves, under their authority, local superiors for each house of the Order; hence, this community of goods and sentiments which made this vast body one family, united by the closest bonds of charity; hence, this distribution of goods into three distinct parts: the first attributed to the redemption of captives, the second to the relief of the poor, and the last to the maintenance of the religious; hence also a host of prescriptions concerning food, clothing, housing, and travel.

As the functions of the Order would often mix the disciples of the institute with the world, in whose commerce prudence and maturity of judgment are so necessary, the admission of candidates could never take place before their twentieth year was completed, whatever their merit and other qualities might be.

Finally, to ensure the execution of the regulations and the maintenance of discipline, a private chapter was held every Sunday in each of the houses, and a general chapter once a year. There were also in all the establishments, exhortations or spiritual talks, hours of absolute silence, public prayer, common recreation, and the chanting of the office.

The continual sacrifices that such a way of life imposed did not frighten the fervent disciples who had taken refuge in the solitude of Cerfroy. Having become humble students of a poor hermit, these doctors were already more advanced in the science of salvation than in human knowledge. That is why John of Matha, tearing himself almost immediately from the embraces of this glorious colony, returned to Paris to take the letters of his two illustrious protectors, and continued his journey to Rome, accompanied by John the Englishman and William the Scot.

He arrived there towards the end of the month of November of the year 1198. His first care was to go and lay at the feet of the Holy Father the constitutions which, by his order, had just been drawn up. The Pontiff revealed in them the spirit of God that had dictated them; he made only slight changes requested by the holy founder himself, and, on December 17, he placed the seal of apostolic authority on this religious code; by this, he gave the new institute that canonical existence that an establishment of this nature can only receive from the Holy See.

Hardly had John of Matha obtained this approval of the rules of his new institute, than he returned to his dear community of Cerfroy, and kept the Sovereign Pontiff informed of the work through frequent letters. But this religious Order had a goal too general for the holy founder not to understand the necessity of fixing his residence in the capital of the Catholic world. He soon had a house in Rome, and Innocent III, a just and intelligent appreciator of this magnificent devotion, ceded to the religious of the Holy Trinity the church of Saint-Thomas in Formis, one of the twenty privileged abbeys of Rome. To this first favor , he Rome Birthplace of Maximian. added several others in succession, and this example coming from so high found numerous imitators.

Our Saint thus found himself at the head of a new community, while Saint Felix governed that of Cerfroy, and full of hope, he was already preparing to cross the sea to ransom captives, when the Pope, fearing that he might too soon become a victim of his ardent devotion, which would have been an irreparable loss for his Order, offered him another mission: it was a matter of restoring peace to the Churches of Dalmatia and Serbia. By the unanimous opinion of the cardinals, John was raised to the dignity of legate a latere, and another religious of his Order, named Simon, versed in the science of law, was assigned to him. But humility inspired our Saint to such touching supplications that Innocent III consented that, equipped as he was with his letters as apostolic ambassador, he should present himself only in the habit of a simple religious. John and Simon, having arrived in Dalmatia, came to an agreement with King Wulcan and the Archbishop of Antivari; they convened a council where twelve¹ canons full of wisdom were drawn up, which tended to purify the clergy, to restore peace in families by banning divorce and illegitimate unions, and finally, to put an end to slavery at least with regard to Latin subjects. Then, after having presided over this council, he traveled through and evangelized these provinces with apostolic zeal and prodigious success. This mission having been happily completed, the Pope thought of nobly rewarding such important services, but John declined the honors that were reserved for him; however, public recognition awarded him the glorious title of *Apostle of Dalmatia*, which has always remained with him in his Order. God, in this circumstance, wished to give the holy peacemaker a great consolation: John the Englishman and William of Scotland, who had been sent to Morocco, provided with a letter from Innocent III, soon arrived in the port of Marseille with one hundred and eighty-six liberated slaves. "The procession of these captives," writes the scholar Millin, "had a truly dramatic interest for the people of Marseille. These ransomed ones walking two by two, in red or brown caps, their hands still burdened with irons, showing the marks of the blows they had received, of the mutilations they had suffered, and following their dear redeemers to go and give thanks to God, offered a spectacle all the more touching, as the frequent and direct communications of the people of Marseille with the Levant could make the spectators themselves fear a similar fate." However brilliant these successes were, the charity of Saint John of Matha was not satisfied by them: the holy religious had considered that the captives, whose chains had been broken, often still found themselves far from their homes, and that in the long journey they still had to make, the most extreme misery made them pay for the barely felt happiness of their restored freedom. To this danger were added many others, in a time when means of transport were rare, expensive, and difficult. Now, the charitable founder knew how to provide for everything. He wrote accordingly to his companions, who had had the honor of going to Africa in his place; and from that moment, a confraternity of the Holy Trinity was established for laypeople. This institution, encouraged by the sovereign Pontiffs, received in time such an excellent organization that it became a powerful auxiliary for the work of the redemption of captives. It had its leaders, its directors, its regulations, its pious practices, its exercises of zeal, and its meeting places. It collected alms; an upright treasurer became responsible for them; then the Redemptorist Fathers would go to pour a portion into the coffers of the Muslims; the other part was devoted to getting the ransomed Christians to some house of the Trinitarian Order, or into the very lodgings that belonged to the confraternity and which had been assigned for this purpose. From there, after a necessary rest and stages made from city to city, the healthy captives would retire to their own country, while the others, sick or infirm, continued to be cared for in the hospitals. ¹. On the Caelian Hill, so named from the Roman aqueducts in the form that covered this hill.

The touching details that the two disciples of Saint John of Matha gave him regarding their mission in Morocco, so happily accomplished, led him to suspend all his foundations and works of zeal in Italy and France, and to depart himself, after having recommended to Saint Felix of Valois, superior of the house of Cerfroy, to watch over the deliverance of Christian slaves in the western regions of Morocco, and to realize as soon as possible the hopes that the first two envoys had left in the dungeons they had already visited. He wished, for his part, to break the chains of the Italians who were groaning in great numbers in Tunis and Tripoli. Thus, along the entire coast of Africa, the standard of redemption was seen to shine at the same time; for, a few days later, John and some of his own appeared on these inhospitable and so justly feared shores.

The city of Tunis, although more ancient than Moro Tunis Place of death of Saint Louis during the Eighth Crusade. cco, did not have its magnificence. The latter had barely a century of existence, and it was already the capital of one of the most powerful empires in the world. Tunis, on the contrary, was poor, and its ferocious inhabitants had even less regard for the rights of humanity than those of the capital of the Barbary States; far from the gaze of the sovereign, they could abandon themselves, without control, to their cruel fanaticism over their Christian slaves.

The man of God was not unaware of this: inaccessible, however, to any sentiment other than that of charity, he requested an audience with the governor, who could not resist his eloquent speech. However, the ransom of the captives was taxed at an enormous price, which meant that our Saint, despite abundant alms, could only obtain one hundred and ten slaves. He provided others with clothing and some basic necessities, while at the same time reviving their faith and leaving them with the hope of soon seeing new liberators arrive.

The Mohammedans, irritated by the zeal with which the holy missionary exhorted the captives to die rather than abandon their religion, watched for the moment to satisfy their rage. Some of these furious men, having found him alone, rushed upon him, stripped him of his clothes, subjected him to a thousand outrages, overwhelmed him with blows, and believing him dead, left him swimming in his blood. But God preserved him by a miracle, and his strength barely returned, he began again, full of ardor, his work of mercy.

No one can paint the scene that unfolded at the moment when our Saint, provided with the governor's safe-conduct, descended into the other hideous places of slavery. The unfortunates who lay there, stretched out on their chains, were at first astonished to see figures that were not those of their pitiless jailers; then, recovered from their surprise and informed of the mission of these charitable strangers, they spontaneously threw themselves at their feet, implored their tender commiseration, kissed their liberating hands, and watered them with bitter tears; they showed their irons, told of their sufferings, and exposed their misfortunes. Ah! It did not take much to touch the loving heart of Matha. The picture of so many miseries tore his soul, and the powerlessness to relieve them all increased his pain. A choice had to be made. This difficult choice designated, for freedom, the unfortunate slaves whose condition excited the most pity; then the iron doors closed again on their companions in misfortune.

Following John of Matha, the redeemed captives left the dreadful abode that had for so long witnessed their woes. Then they boarded the ship that was to restore to them a homeland, a family, and rest, after the long fatigues of slavery; the vessel did not sail fast enough for their liking. Finally, the shore was discovered, the coasts of Italy were greeted with transport, and they cast anchor in the port of Ostia; then one could see them in the delirium of joy, kissing, with gratitude, this hospitable land, from which their liberator had departed.

John of Matha, whose contentment had something celestial about it, directed his dear slaves toward Rome. An eager multitude flocked. Pagan Rome had insulted defeated warriors and kings; Christian Rome, on the contrary, came to associate itself with the happiness of these poor freedmen. Once, the victors dragged their unfortunate captives to the Capitol; on this day, John of Matha, greater than the Scipios and the Caesars, led to the holy temple those whose chains he had broken and sent them back free to their grateful families.

The Romans, seeing that the new institute was fulfilling its glorious mission with such zeal, provided abundant alms, which John the Englishman carried to Tunis, while the holy founder created numerous establishments in Italy, France, and Spain; for the slaves having recounted in their homeland their past sufferings and the devotion of their redeemers, the Order of the Most Holy Trinity had been exalted everywhere, everywhere it had appeared with its grandeur, its importance, and its benefits; the people had been moved by it; it remained to take advantage of these happy dispositions.

Our Saint first went to Arles, to Imbert d'Aiguières, archbishop of that city and a friend of Innocent III. He left five of his religious in a house, due to the liberality of several notables. From there, he traveled to Spain where the Catholic kings called him. They received him with great demonstrations of respect and ceded to him considerable properties, at the same time as they poured into his hands large sums for the immediate ransom of a great number of captives held in Valencia and Majorca. These unfortunates were directed to Lérida, where a very vast establishment had been founded, including a house for the Trinitarians, a refuge for indigent travelers, a hospital for the infirm of the country, and a place of rest for the ransomed captives, but tired from the march or convalescent.

The man of God seized this opportunity to engage in apostolic excursions, and he performed astonishing conversions in several places. Ferrario Gray, a young lord who had just finished his studies with distinction, was one of his conquests: he entered the Order of the Trinitarians, and it is to him that we owe the great development that this Order took in Catalonia and Aragon, provinces that he administered with success for thirty-two years.

In the meantime, Hugues de Baux, Viscount of Marseille, begged John of Matha to come to that city to found a convent of Trinitarians. Other lords associated themselves with this thought, and great privileges were attached to this establishment. The act was passed in 1202. Without delay, four religious came to settle there, for our Saint had understood how important it was to have a monastery on a seaport, where such a great number of ransomed slaves were to disembark.

But the work of God, more than once, suffered the contradiction and opposition of men; the chapter of Marseille rose up against the establishment founded in that city, and Michel de Moriez, Archbishop of Arles, did the same against the one whose creation his illustrious predecessor had solicited. However, John of Matha, who was returning from Spain with a new band of captives, managed to appease this storm and to settle everything through wise and friendly transactions. From there, he went to Rome, and in his footsteps, a host of houses of his Order arose; then he reappeared in Spain in 1206: the needs were more pressing there than elsewhere, for the Muslims had brought havoc and desolation to these kingdoms.

Don Alonzo, King of Castile, after having accompanied the Saint in several cities, pre sented his family to him so Don Alonzo, roi de Castille King of Spain who supported the Order and received the prophecies of John. that he might call down the blessings of heaven upon it. John, at the sight of the infant, then seven years old, was seized by the spirit of God; and in a prophetic enthusiasm, he predicted to the king his coming victories, and to the Infant his future destinies and the definitive triumph of the Christians over the Muslims of the Peninsula. Indeed, four years later, the famous battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place, and Don Fernand was, in the future, King Ferdinand III, whom the C hurch count dom Fernand King of Castile and saint, whose destiny was predicted by John of Matha. s among its Saints.

The skillful founder hastened to go and report on all his work to the Sovereign Pontiff. He arrived in Rome in the month of March of the year 1209. He was at the same time informed of the propagation of his Order, by Felix of Valois, in the northern provinces of France. John the Englishman also gave him an account of his two voyages to Tunis, and of all the remarkable incidents that had marked them.

The Pope, charmed to see that this institute had fully justified by its works the high protection with which he surrounded it, hastened to give the sanction of his apostolic authority to everything that Saint John of Matha and Saint Felix of Valois had done to this day in France, Italy, and Spain. These bulls of confirmation were followed by another bull which granted the Order various privileges and recommended it, while approving it again, to the whole Christian world.

To so many favors, the Fathers of the Trinity responded with new services. John of Matha had just finished visiting the prisons and hospitals of Rome when he learned that the truce concluded by Spain with the Muslims was about to expire, and that a general resumption of arms was already being preluded by partial engagements. This is why he left a second time for Tunis, taking with him William the Scot.

Having left the port of Ostia towards the end of May, they arrived in Tunis a few days later. They went directly to the governor. The latter, whether out of foresight or greed, still consented to exchange the chains of his slaves for the gold of the redeemers. But the subjects did not show themselves as tractable as the master; the stirred-up Tunisians threw themselves upon our Saint, overwhelmed him with blows, and took his captives away from him. John claimed them with energy; finally, a new arrangement was concluded, a double ransom was demanded: it was the right and justice of the strongest. John of Matha had exhausted his resources, so he could not satisfy this insatiable greed. In this extremity, the Saint drew from beneath his scapular the image of the Virgin, prostrated himself with William, they prayed, they conjured the good Mother of heaven to manifest her clemency in favor of her unhappy children; such pure, such ardent vows were answered: an invisible hand deposited at the feet of the two liberators the sum claimed by the barbarians, and the Christian captives were set at liberty.

Then the populace, furious at this unforeseen outcome, rushed onto the ship that was carrying them, removed the rudder, cut the masts, tore the sails, and broke the oars to make departure impossible. The man of God did not let himself be discouraged. He ordered his men to set the ship in motion. The passengers, preferring to perish in the waves rather than under the steel of the assassins or in the dungeons, seized pieces of oars and planks to help with this difficult maneuver. The Tunisians laughed at these efforts and jeered; but the ship sailed nonetheless. Full of confidence in God alone, John, his heart on fire, took off his cloak, spread it in the shape of a sail; and, kneeling on the deck, crucifix in hand, he implored, with effusion of soul, the Star of the Sea. The sailors and passengers repeated the same prayers, and the peaceful waves respected the frail craft; the winds fell silent, a favorable breeze arose, and in less than two days, they entered the port of Ostia, to the acclamations of a crowd amazed by the miracle. The Sovereign Pontiff, recognizing in this the intervention of Him who commands the waves and the storms, wept with tenderness and admiration; he wished to see all the captives and bless them with his own hand, before they were sent back to their country.

Our Saint soon resumed his accustomed exercises; the sick saw him again at their sad bedside, the prisoners in their dark cells. His presence everywhere brought forth miracles of grace; the blessings and love of the people accompanied him everywhere. In these circumstances, Dom Rodrigo, Bishop of Toledo, arrived in Rome; he was charged with a special mission to the Holy See: it was Dom Alonzo, King of Castile, who, having only a handful of men to oppose to innumerable bands of Saracens fanaticized by their leaders, had thought it necessary to interest Catholic Europe in his cause. Innocent III saw the gravity of the peril; he immediately ordered public prayers; he charged Dom Rodrigo himself to travel through Italy and France, and to make a general appeal to all Christian warriors. Pressing letters were immediately addressed to the bishops of France, Languedoc, Provence, and the Dauphiné.

In the midst of these alarms, Saint John of Matha did not remain idle; he was not a man to flee before the storm. He began to visit all the houses of his Order, to designate the most courageous religious to assist the soldiers of the cross on the battlefield, or to collect alms which were to be more abundant than ever, so that resources would be proportional to the immense needs that disastrous reverses could suddenly create. It was at this time that the holy founder passed through Cerfroy, and was able to speak, one last time, with Saint Felix, his old friend, then ninety years old.

Finally, the fate of arms was to be tested on the plains of Tolosa. Numerous troops soon gathered there. The Dauphinois especially, whose fathers had suffered so much from the Saracen hordes, took, as all historians say, a glorious part in this great battle and distinguished themselves by their brilliant valor. Several army corps were formed, and while the generals chose advantageous positions, the superior general of the Trinitarians prepared everything in Toledo for the service of the sick and wounded. Finally, on July 16, 1212, the bugles were heard, the two armies clashed, the Christians rushed like lions upon the Muslims, attacked them, broke through their battalions, and covered the battlefield with their corpses. The victory was complete.

Saint John of Matha, happy to see the cross triumph, returned to Rome where the affairs of his Order required his presence. He soon received the news of the death of the blessed Felix of Valois, his dear collaborator. This loss, although foreseen, was extremely painful to him. John the Englishman, who had imbued himself with the spirit of the rule better than any other disciple, and who moreover had great capacity, was designated to govern the monastery of Cerfroy; he arrived in this important house at the beginning of the year 1213.

Our Saint had himself consumed a robust health in the austerities of penance, the fatigues of travel, and the solicitudes of his numerous foundations; his exhausted strength was no longer sufficient for his zeal; from then on he applied all the activity of his mind to his personal perfection and to the interior direction of his institute. To his accustomed mortifications, he added the continual practice of prayer. If he left the convent of Saint-Thomas in Formis, it was to go and sit at the bedside of some sick person or to help the bashful poor. He took scrupulous care to hide his good works; but the marvelous effects of the extraordinary power that God had communicated to his humble servant, and to which the demon, diseases, and even death itself obeyed, had filled the city of Rome with the virtues and the name of John of Matha.

Illustrious for so many labors, adorned with so many heavenly gifts, famous for his science and his writings, John of Matha, rapt in spirit to heaven, saw Saint Felix there all shining with light, and had the revelation that in one year he would, in his turn, go to join his friend in the abode of glory.

Upon this divine warning, the holy founder assembled in Rome the principal leaders of his numerous and immortal family, which he had seen expand rapidly in several kingdoms, and even penetrate into Asia with the generous Crusaders of Jerusalem. He wished to dispose of everything with foresight for the greater good of the Order. These last arrangements made, death did not delay. Undermined by fever, or rather consumed by divine love, he received the sacraments in the admirable sentiments of the living faith and ardent charity that had animated all his actions, then he ordered his grave to be dug, and spent the following day in ecstatic contemplation. On the third day, he gathered his weeping children around his deathbed, bade them his final farewells, exhorted them to the great work of the redemption of captives, and blessed them one last time. Shortly after, his soul ascended to heaven. It was December 17, in the year 1213.

At the news of this passing, all of Rome was moved: everyone wanted to see the still-radiant face of the man of God, and to satisfy this general devotion, it was necessary to leave the body of the Saint exposed for four days in the middle of the church. Several miracles occurred on this occasion: a woman deprived of the use of an arm was cured on the spot; four blind men recovered their sight. Never were there more solemn obsequies; the Pope and a good number of cardinals wished to attend. Not yet satisfied, Innocent III saw to it that the mortal remains of the Saint were buried under a magnificent white marble mausoleum, where he had this simple inscription engraved: "In the year 1197 of the Incarnation of the Lord, the first of the Pontificate of Innocent III, the 15th of the Calends of January, the Order of the Most Holy Trinity was founded with its own rule granted by the Holy See, by Brother John, divinely inspired. The same was buried in this place, in the year of the Lord 1213."

## RELICS AND CULT OF SAINT JOHN OF MATHA.

Accustomed to venerating Saint John of Matha during his lifetime, the people invoked him after his death, and the miraculous favors they obtained through his intercession seemed to justify a cult that the Church authorized only by its silence, until the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, jealous to propagate the glory of its two great patriarchs, pursued the cause of their canonization before the Holy See, and obtained from Urban IV a bull dated May 1, 1262, by virtue of which the solemn honors of canonization were rendered to Saint John of Matha and Saint Felix of Valois, on October 4 of the following year.

But the convent of Saint-Thomas in Formis, on the Caelian Hill, having later ceased to be inhabited by a religious community, the memory of Saint John of Matha suffered for it. In 1655, two Trinitarian religious of the new observance departed from Spain and conceived the pious project of bringing the sacred remains of the great founder out of oblivion and having them sent to Madrid. This transport was carried out clandestinely, and official reports came, in 1721, to verify the identity of the Saint's relics and give rise to a very brilliant ceremony, following which they were exposed in the Trinitarian church of Madrid to be kept there in perpetuity, in accordance with a papal decree dated September 6, 1729.

In 1832, the Trinitarians having had to leave Spain, like all other religious, the body of their holy founder was enclosed in the palace of the Nunciature. The feast of the translation of the relics of Saint John of Matha is celebrated in the Order of the Most Holy Trinity on the fifth Sunday after Easter.

Finally, after several bulls already obtained in favor of the cult of Saint John of Matha, at the instance of Louis XIV, on January 24, 1671, the Sacred Congregation of Rites, with the approval of the Holy Father, had the names of Saint John of Matha and Saint Felix of Valois inserted into the Roman Martyrology, and since 1694, the office of these two Saints was elevated to the double rite, of precept, as the universal Church celebrates it today.

The former diocese of Embrun attached itself early on to venerating the place where John of Matha was born and had lived. Two portions of his relics were granted in 1674 to the parish church of Faucon and exposed for public veneration, by virtue of an authorization from Mgr de Genlis, Archbishop of Embrun; they have been honored there ever since with great piety.

The Order of the Most Holy Trinity was re-established in France on September 15, 1859, in its former convent of Faucon, homeland of its holy founder. It still possesses two houses, one at Notre-Dame de Lise, near Vienne (Isère), and the other at Cerfroy (Aisne).

Saint John of Matha is honored with a special cult in the numerous houses of the Trinitarian (black) ladies of Valence. The diocese of Marseille venerates him in the convents of the Discalced Trinitarian nuns, established at Sainte-Marthe (suburbs), at Aubagne, at Cassis, at Génévois, at Roquefort, at Cerges and at Les Accates. The archconfraternity of the Trinitarian Penitents, which has existed in this city since 1396, celebrates the feast of Saint John of Matha with much pomp.

There has been published, in recent years, an excellent Life of Saint John of Matha, by the Rev. Fr. Calixte de la Providence, Trinitarian religious. Paris, Wattelin, 1867, in-12.

See also the hagiological history of Gap, by Mgr Depéry.