Saint of the Day – 12 January – Blessed Bernard of Corleone OFM Cap (1605-1667)

Saint of the Day – 12 January – Blessed Bernard of Corleone OFM Cap (1605-1667) Lay Brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, previously a Cobbler. Born on 6 February 1605 at Corleone, Palermo, Sicily as Filippo Latino and died on 12 January 1667 at Palermo, Sicily. Patronages – Mafia victims, expectant mothers. Also known as – Bernardo de Corleone, Brother Bernardo, Filippo Latino, Philipi Latini. He was Beatified on 15 May 1768 by Pope Clement XIII.

Bernard was born in Corleone in the Province of Palermo, in Sicily, Italy. He was the third of six children of Leonardo and Francesca Latini. The family lived in modest circumstances but they never lacked the essentials. The Town of Corleone received its name, “Lionheart” for its heroism during the uprising against the French occupation in 1282 which is known in history. as “The Sicilian Vesper.”

The family house was commonly known as Casa di Santi (House of the Saints) because of the charity of the father and the kindness of all the children. Filippo’s father was a Tanner and he himself, became a Cobbler by profession. But he had another passion, namely the sword and he was considered the best duelist in all of Sicily.

After competing in a duel, he had wounded a man named Vito Canino, so severely that he would be permanently disabled, forcing him to flee from the authorities and seeking Ecclesiastical asylum in the Church of the Capuchins in Palermo. He was safe there, because in the 17th Century, the Church’s right of asylum still applied – no-one could be arrested in a holy place, being a “City of Refuge” (Numbers 35:11-28).

In the silence of the Church, Bernard began to meditate on his life and his past sins and he was graced and penetrated with a deepe sense of self-knowledge and self-dislike, realising that he had not obeyed or loved God. With remorseful tears, he asked God for forgiveness and decided to live the rest of his life in repentance and penance. He left Corleone and went to Caltanisetta, where in 1632, he joined the Capuchins as a Lay Brother with the Religious name “Bernard.”

The only thing he longed for was to grow in spiritual perfection and the way there was humility and penance. The strict rule of lathe Order was not enough for him, so he imposed extreme penance on himself to atone for his past sins. He slepton the floor and never for more than three hours at a time. Even the poor Monastery meals he considered as gluttony.

But his graces were as great as his penances. He never learned to read and write, yet he reached the highest spiritual heights. In time, he could read people’s hearts and became renowned for his many miracles. His intercession was also instrumental in miraculous cures of animals.

Bernard lived a simple life, working as a cook, bering transferred from one Monastery to another, in the Province. We know that he spent his last fifteen years in Palermo itself. Exhausted by pmortifications, he sought refuge at the Tabernacle, where he prayed continually. There, he became ill on the Feast of The Epiphany on 6 January 1667 and he died on 12 January 1667, barely 62 years old. Before the funeral, his tunic had to be changed a total of nine times because all had been torn to pieces by the faithful who wanted to secure a Relic.