Saint Philip Benizi de Damiani

Philip Benizi, OSM (sometimes Saint Philip Benitius, and in Italian Filippo Benizzi; August 15, 1233 – August 22, 1285) was a general superior of the Servites, and is credited with reviving the order. Philip Benizi was born on August 15 in the Florentine district of Oltrarno, of the noble family of Benizi. Of his childhood but little is known. He entered the order of the Servites as a lay brother and was sent to a convent three leagues from Florence, where he displayed the utmost diligence. He would retire into a cavern near the church to meditate. Two Dominicans who chanced to visit him were so struck by his piety that they insisted he become a priest. When he was elected the general superior on June 5, 1267, the order, which had long been the object of attack from enemies, entered into the crisis of its existence. The Second Council of Lyons in 1274 put into execution the ordinance of the Fourth Lateran Council, forbidding the foundation of new religious orders, and absolutely suppressing all mendicant institutions not yet approved by the Holy See. In 1276 Pope Innocent V, in a letter addressed to Philip, declared the order suppressed. Philip then proceeded to Rome, but before his arrival there, Innocent V had died. The city of Forlì was part of the Papal States and, in 1283, the site of strong anti-papal sentiment was placed under interdict. Pope Martin IV asked Philip to go to Forlì and try to reconcile the divided city. According to a certain sixteenth century legend regarding Benizi, he encountered an eighteen-year-old Peregrine Laziosi, the son of a Ghibelline leader, who was among those abusive towards Philip. However, Philip's meeting with the initially antagonistic youth inspired Peregrine to later join the Servites. Known for his ascetic devotions, in 1726, Peregrine himself being canonized by Pope Benedict XIII. Other chroniclers of Peregrine do not recount this meeting with Philip .