Accompaniment, Saint Bernardino Style

“Learn from Saint Bernardino!”

Ah, Saint Bernardino of Siena!

This fearless Saint is still very well known in Italy. A bit like a household name. Not many know the details about him, but everybody has heard his name!

Francis too, methinks?

You see, Bernardino (or Bernadine as I think some would say in English) was very good at doing exactly that stuff that Francis lurvs!

The guy met sinners where they were at*. He would preach, for example, in the middle of Piazza del Campo in Siena, exactly where all those sinners congregated! So accessible, so down-to-earth! A cura villero ante litteram! How pleased must our Pontiff be with him!

And then, then….

… when the people had gathered….

… the saintly man would….

… in his charity….

thunder against sodomy like there is no tomorrow!

He would advocate for a strict enforcement of sodomy laws. He would advocate for the execution of public, unrepentant sodomites! He was, actually, so good at that, so passionate, so full of zeal for Christ, that he managed to enflame the audience with a sacred desire to see the laws (both of man and of Christ) enforced and this scourge, as far as possible, eradicated!

Blessed enthusiasm! God-given zeal! Is it a surprise that Bernardino is remembered as a great Saint, his fame in Siena only surpassed (possibly) by the great Saint Catherine?

The great man did not sit in his ivory tower. He did not spend his days and night closed in a room, lost in studying, writing, or contemplation. Such a guy would, certainly, not suit Francis.

No, Bernardino was the active guy, the guy who “accompanies” the sinner, who moves and lives right in the middle of the sheep! Francis must be a great fan of his, surely?

Surely?

Surely… ? ….

Oh well, never mind….

* I find that final “at” very questionable grammatically. I suspect the influence of some Protected Minority in this. But this is the language our clergy uses…