Saint of the Day – Blessed Clement of Osimo OSA (1235-1291)

Saint of the Day – Blessed Clement of Osimo OSA (1235-1291) aged 56 – Priest, professed Augustinian Religious, Reformer, miracle-worker.   Additional Memorial – 19 May (Augustinians).

Blessed Clement was born in 1235 in the region of Marcas, Italy, probably in San Elpidio.

As a young man, he entered the Augustinians in Brettino.   He was chosen Prior Provincial of the Province of Marche of Ancona in 1269.   He was twice selected as Prior General of the Order, serving in that role from 1271 to 1274, when he resigned his office and returned to a more quiet way of life.  He participated in the Second Council of Lyons in 1274 that Pope Gregory X convoked and then retired but he was again elected Prior General in 1284, this time unanimously.   He served in that office until his death in 1291.

He, along with Blessed Augustine of Tarano (1240-1309), helped revise the Regensburg Constitutions of the Order (the basic law by which the Order is governed).   He encouraged formal studies on the part of the friars and founded five schools where those studies could be undertaken.   He supported the establishment of libraries.   He insisted on proper observance of the Augustinian way of life.   He promoted the foundation of Augustinian houses for women.

Blesseds Clement and Augustine, whose lives are linked closely by history, share in common not only their religious profession and the office of Prior General but also the mark of sanctity.   Both were drawn by temperament to a love for the contemplative life but were equally engaged in many and important works for the good of the Order in its formative years.

Clement died on 8 April 1291.  His reputation for holiness prompted Pope Nicholas IV to suspend his funeral to allow people more time to flock to Orvieto – where he died – for his funeral.

He was first buried at the Augustinian house in Orvieto. Later his remains were divided, with a portion remaining in Orvieto and other portions sent for burial in Osimo and in San Elpidio.   In the early 18th Century, most of his remains were gathered together and reburied at the St Augustine Church, Rome.   Since 1970 his remains are preserved at the General Headquarters of the Order in Rome.  Pope Clement XIII proclaimed him Blessed in 1759.