Saint Raymond Nonnatus

Raymond was born in Portell, in Catalonia, around 1204, and the nickname he carries tells you how: Nonat, not born. Tradition says his mother died in childbirth and that the baby was taken from her body with a blade — what today we would call a C-section — by the lord of Cardona, who was related to the family. As a boy he worked as a shepherd, and would lead his flock as far as a chapel where the Virgin was venerated. Then he heard about Peter Nolasco, who was looking for men for the Order of Mercy, founded to ransom Christians held as slaves in Muslim lands. He went to him. He did that work, and he did it all the way. In Algeria, when the ransom money ran out, he handed himself over as a hostage in place of some prisoners — which was the Mercedarians’ fourth vow, and few truly kept it. In prison he went on speaking about his faith to the inmates, and as punishment, according to the story, they pierced his lips and locked them shut with a padlock. He himself was ransomed after months. Gregory IX made him a cardinal; he died in Cardona on August 31, 1240, on his way to Rome. He is patron saint of women in labor, of midwives and of babies who have a hard time being born — because of the way he himself was born. If your name is Raymond, today is your name day.