Nicholas of Tolentino

Who they were

Nicholas was born in 1245, named after St Nicholas of Bari, to whom his parents had vowed him. An Augustinian friar and priest, he lived by a severe rule: no meat, eggs, dairy or fruit, only vegetables and plain bean broth, with fasts at least three days a week. He spent long hours in prayer and in the confessional, receiving ashamed sinners with mercy, served the poor and urged the rich to help them as a matter of justice. He died on 10 September 1305.

His life is known from the documents of his canonisation process, opened by John XXII on 23 May 1325.

The miracles

Many testimonies of miracles were brought to his process; the details examined are not given in the sources we have used. He was the first Augustinian friar to be canonised, and is invoked for the souls in purgatory.

Why that counted as sanctity

Nicholas joined an austere life of penance to great mercy toward sinners and care for the poor, and prayed constantly for the souls of the dead.

Connected on this site

• Angelo da Foligno Saint
  “He was a close friend of both Saint Nicholas of Tolentino and Blessed Ugolino da Gualdo Cattaneo.” — Wikipedia