Bernardino of Siena

Who they were

Orphaned young, Bernardino grew up in Siena and became a doctor of philosophy and law. In 1400, when plague struck the city, he and his confraternity nursed the sick for four months; he caught the disease and survived, and in 1402 entered the Franciscans of the strict Observance, living barefoot and begging.

As a priest he became the great popular preacher of fifteenth-century Italy, drawing huge crowds in Genoa, Milan, Venice and Rome with the language, images and humour of ordinary people. Entrusted in 1438 with the reform of the Observance, he saw its houses grow from 20 to 200. On a preaching journey toward Naples he collapsed near L'Aquila and died there on 20 May 1444, aged 64, laid on the bare ground as he wished.

The miracles

Reports of miracles multiplied after his death, and he was canonised only six years later. The miracles examined are not described in the sources we have used.

Why that counted as sanctity

Bernardino put his learning at the service of the unlettered, preaching Christ in words everyone could understand, and lived the poverty of Francis while reforming his brothers.

Connected on this site

• Anthony della Chiesa Saint
  “He was a companion of Bernardino of Siena and was beatified by Pope Pius VII in 1819.” — Wikipedia
• John of Capistrano Saint
  “A fiery preacher, he befriended St Bernardino of Siena and defended him against charges of heresy over his devotion to the Name of Jesus, fought the heretical Fraticelli and reformed his Order, earning the name 'pillar of the Observance'.” — this site's research
• Alberto di Sarteano Blessed
  “He was an associate of Bernardino of Siena, and a diplomatic envoy of Pope Eugene IV to the Coptic and Ethiopian churches.” — Wikipedia