In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The life of Saint Lawrence of Brindisi is a beautiful life, because in him the grace
of God is manifested in all its power.
God gave him some extraordinary charisms or gifts, especially during the battles of the
Christians against the Turks in which, going unarmed, only showing a cross and blessing
everyone with it, the bullets stopped or fell in places where there was no one, and in some
cases were even turned against the enemies themselves.
These are things that seem impossible, but are told by eyewitnesses because they have
seen them with their own eyes.
On the other hand, Saint Lawrence of Brindisi had the gift of knowing Hebrew, Chaldean and
Greek by divine grace without having studied them.
It was a gift that he received from God through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, to whom
he had so much devotion that he obtained from the Pope to be able to celebrate every day,
except on some special holidays, the Mass of the Virgin Mary.
And to celebrate more devoutly he asked that there always be an image of the Virgin Mary
with the Child Jesus before his sight on the altar.
In Prague there were many heretics.
One day five or six of them found Saint Lawrence of Brindisi on a bridge and grabbed him by
the beard, threw him to the ground and kicked him.
They also wanted to hit me, referring to Father Ambrosio, but at that moment the nephew of
Nuncio Spinelli appeared on the other side of the bridge, who was with two servants who
drew their swords against the heretics, who fled, and thus we escaped from the danger.
I helped Saint Lawrence up and asked him if they had hurt him and he answered simply:
"They have hurt me."
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi suffered many persecutions from the Protestants.
Father Francesco says: While I was in Prague, a Protestant astrologer named Polycarp assured
the emperor that he would be assassinated by a Capuchin, for which he advised the emperor
to expel all the Capuchins from his kingdoms.
The emperor believed him and decided to expel them.
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi went to preach and there he asked everyone for permission
to go to his land with all the Capuchins.
When the fact was made public by the city, the Chancellor of Bohemia advised his Majesty
to leave the decree without effect and thus they could remain.
The same emperor helped to build a convent in the city of Prague.
He founded a convent in Vienna, another in Prague and another in Graz, Styria, Austria.
On another occasion, a very notable Protestant person from Prague let everyone know that
he wanted to kill Saint Lawrence of Brindisi.
When they told Saint Lawrence about this, he made the decision to go to the protestant's
house and tell him not only that he did not hate him, but that he loved him.
And Saint Lawrence took a backpack of the kind that lay brothers carried to ask for
alms and went to the protestant's house.
When he arrived at the house, he begged for alms and the Protestant allowed Saint Lawrence
and his companion to enter his house.
When the protestant realized it was Saint Lawrence, he was astonished and ushered him
into the dining room where there were other guests; he made him sit next to him, they
became friends and he gave him good alms.
Father Castillione relates: When I was in Prague, the Duke of Saxony, a protestant arrived
and stayed in the royal castle.
For this reason a protestant preacher had the audacity to preach there publicly.
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi preached in the Capuchin Church of Prague, and hearing of
the protestant's preaching, he invited to his sermon all the advisers of the Majesty
to be present, since he was going to demonstrate the falsehood of the heretic.
There were many people and Saint Lawrence refuted point by point what the previous preacher
had said, and not content with this, he threw from the pulpit some books, saying that they
should read them in such and such places.
Many protestants came to his preaching and disputed with him and he confused them and
some were converted.
Pope Paul V, at the request of the Emperor of Austria, granted him in 1606 all the necessary
faculties to preach throughout Germany, going as Commissioner General.
With the Pope's blessing, he left Rome.
Traveling to Prague, he passed through Donauwörth, Germany, and seeing him, some people began
to shout, Capuciner capuciner, Schwein, Schwein, which means Capuchins, capuchins, pigs, pigs.
So, in the midst of a large group of heretics, Saint Lawrence of Brindisi arrived with his
cross in his hand at the Benedictine convent of the city, where he was generously received.
The Benedictines told him that a few weeks earlier the heretics had disrupted a Catholic
procession, mistreating them and shouting that they were idolaters.
When he arrived in Prague, he spoke of what had happened to the Papal Nuncio and to the Emperor himself;
and he spoke it in the pulpits where he preached.
The following year, 1607, the emperor ordered the Duke of Bavaria to punish the inhabitants
of Donauwörth and restored Catholic worship so that no one could prevent it.
Mr. Vicecomes declared: When in 1611 the Duke of Bavaria saw Saint Lawrence's decision to
preach in some parts of Germany, he ordered me to accompany him with 25 soldiers because
of the danger that he would be assassinated by heretics.
Where he preached, much spiritual fruit was achieved.
Many Catholics were confirmed in their faith and gave up their sins and did penance.
Many heretics converted and abjured heresy, of which I am an eyewitness.
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi told me that he was willing to shed his blood and give his
life for the propagation of our faith.
On one occasion, we were walking through the lands of heretics.
At lunchtime, he and I were alone.
Suddenly he said to me: "Quick, get on horseback with all the people, because heretics are
coming to harm us."
We all went to the horses and he said, "Let's go this way."
When we entered the open field, we saw a large crowd of people on horseback and on foot,
all armed, who were coming for us and were heretics.
All of them had come down from the mountains and from neighboring places by order of the
landlord of the place, who was a heretic.
The order was to cut us to pieces.
The heretics would be about 700 and our soldiers were about 25.
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi took in his hand the cross that was around his neck and I had
the trumpet blow in order to fight; and it was something admirable, since those heretics
were filled with fear and fled.
I think that Saint Lawrence of Brindisi knew by divine revelation the arrival of the heretics
and predicted it.
Father Rollini says: I was a companion of Father Natta, a Capuchin apostolic preacher,
who fought for the formation of the Catholic faith in Germany, but I heard some princes
say that the first author and promoter of the Catholic faith had been Saint Lawrence
of Brindisi.
The Duke of Bavaria affirmed: All Germany and all Christendom have a perpetual obligation
to Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, because through him the Catholic faith was brought, from which
came so much good for the empire and for the Church.
Preaching in Prague, he said in a sermon that he was ready to lose, not just one head, but
hundreds if he had any, to the Catholic faith, that he would never cease to oppose with all
his might, even if it cost him to shed his blood for spreading the Catholic faith.
Regarding the Muslims, King Philip III of Spain consulted Saint Lawrence about the idea
he had of expelling the Moors, referring to the false muslim converts to the christian
faith, and who joined the pirates that ravaged the coasts and they were a great danger to
the peace of Spain.
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi answered him, after having prayed about this matter, that the
will of God was the expulsion of the Moors.
The king put it into execution in 1610 and 1614 and about 300,000 left.
Father Andres tells us: When I was his companion, I saw Saint Lawrence of Brindisi speak to the Jews.
He did not reprimand them, but called them brothers and they were all happy; and after
preaching a Lent to them, they gave him money and food, although he did not accept it.
Mr. Semproni recounts: When Saint Lawrence was in Casale Monferrato, he went to visit
the bishop and later he preached in the cathedral and preached for the Jews.
By order of the bishop and the governor, all Jews, men and women, attended.
The preaching was almost all in the Hebrew language and the Jews, especially the rabbis, said:
"We have heard many preachers, but we have never heard anything like this, it seems
that Saint Lawrence is Jewish by birth and speaks Hebrew better than us."
Brother Francesco declared: I was in Mantua when Saint Lawrence of Brindisi preached to
the Jews on Saturdays and I heard some of his sermons.
Saint Lawrence carried some books in Hebrew and read in the pulpit the Bible in this language
and made them understand what the Messiah was referring to and made them notice the
falsehoods of how they interpreted some texts and also quoted the Bible in Latin and in
the Hebrew language.
Father Philip adds that, while Saint Lawrence was in Prague, at the home of the Apostolic
Nuncio Spinelli, one day he disputed with the rabbis and Jewish leaders, speaking in Hebrew.
They brought their books and Saint Lawrence of Brindisi would refute them from memory
without having any books on hand.
And although there were several against him, they were confused.
Father Bautista expresses that Saint Lawrence preached to the Jews of Rome, and when he
was elected general, he had to stop preaching.
When he finished his generalate and returned to Rome, when he met some Jews who knew him,
they held a great feast, because since his departure they were heartbroken and said that
if he taught them again, there was hope that they would convert.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.