Saint Raymond the Palmer

Raymond of Piacenza (1139/40 – 26 July 1200), called the Palmer or Zanfogni, was a Catholic pilgrim and religious who practiced charity to the poor and ill. Raymond's nickname, "the Palmer", derives from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, from which he brought back the customary palm frond. Such a pilgrim was called a Palmarius or Palmerius (Italian: Palmario or Palmerio). His feast day is 26 July. Raymond's life is known from a Latin vita written in 1212, only twelve years after his death, by a certain Rufinus, at the instigation of Raymond's son Gerard. This was kept in the library of San Raimondo di Piacenza, a Cistercian convent, until 1525, when it was lent out to a Dominican friar to be translated into Italian. It was never seen again. The Bollandist Peter van der Bosch translated the Italian back into Latin for the Acta Sanctorum (July, vol. VI, col. 645–57). This version has been translated into English by Kenneth Baxter Wolf. Raymond was born at Piacenza to parents "neither illustrious in origin nor completely lowborn", i.e., of the burgeoning middle class. He was raised by his mother until about the age of twelve, and never received a thorough education, being still "unlettered" at his death. At about twelve he was sent by his father to learn the family trade of shoemaking at a certain workshop. His father died when he was an adolescent (his biographer presumes that to be fourteen), and after receiving the permission of Bishop Hugh (1155–66), Raymond and his mother went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Raymond was ill for much of the journey and almost died on the return trip by sea. Raymond's mother died soon after their return to Italy but before they reached Piacenza. At Piacenza Raymond's relatives persuaded him to marry, which he did, and he returned to shoemaking to support his family. In his leisure hours, his biographer writes, he conversed with religious men and became wise enough to preach, on holidays, in houses and workshops.