The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-01
OUR LADY OF RANSOM
Interesting Sketch Of a Noble
Religious O"der.

In the twelfth century Spain was
greatly harassed by the Saracens,
who had conquered large portions of
her territory, and had made slaves of
great numbers of her people, many of
whom were sold in the African mar
kets, where they were obliged to lead
lives of disgrace and misery, while in
Spain many souls were lost to the
Church through fear Of suffering and
bitter persecution. All this was
source of great sorrow to the Blessed
Mother, who resolved to come to the
help of her children and set them free
from the degrading yoke of the Sara
Gems.
At that time there was living in Bar
celona wealthy and pious man,
known as Peter Nolasco, who was
striving to relieve the misery of the
Christian captives among the Moors.
The Blessed Virgin appeared to him
and told him he would please her
Divine Son and herself exceedingly if
he would institute, in her honor, an
order of religious men who would
devote themselves to the ransoming
of captives from the infidels. That
same night, the Blessed rgin also
appeared to Blessed Raymund of
Pegnafort, and to James the First,
King of Aragon, and delivered the
same message Peter fastened to
relate his heavenly vision to Blessed
Raymund, who was his confessor, and
While they were joyfully discussing
the beautiful suggestion, they were
joined by the King, who was very
happy over the great blessing which
had come to him, and anxious to begin
at once the work which had been con-
fided to him by the Blessed Virgin.
Finding that they had all had the
same experience, they Immediately be-
gan the foundation Of the Order of
Our Lady of Mercy for the Ransom
Of Captives, and Blessed Raymund was
chosen to draw up the rules for the
new order, and by August 10, 1918,
the order was formally established.
The members of this order, bound
themselves by fourth VOW, that of
offering themselves as slaves to the
Moors if they could obtain in no other
way the ransom of the Christians.
Pope Gregory TX. approved the rule
of the order, and appointed st. Peter
Nolasco the first general, giving him
the habit with his own hands. The
King granted them the special permits
sion of wearing his royal arms upon
the breast of their habit. The order
spread very rapidly and holy men from
all parts of the world were numbered
among it's members. So great was
their zeal for the glory of God and
the Blessed Virgin that many gave
themselves up as ransom for others
and numberless victims were saved
from the cruelty of the Moors.
In order that due thanks might be
given for the blessing of such an or
der, in 1896 Pope Innocent XII, ex-
tended the feast to the whole Church,
that the world might have an oppor-
tunity of expressing it's gratitude. The
Order Of Mercy differed from the
Order Of the Holy Trinity, which had
been in existence twenty years, in that
it numbered more knights than clerics
among it's members, and was called
the Royal Military and Religious
Order of Our Lady of Mercy. The
clerics were charged with the celebra.
ton of the Divine Office in the com.
manderies; the knights performed the
dangerous tasks Of guarding the
coasts and of rescuing the Christians
who had been taken captive. Wher
the relics of st. Peter Nolasco were
discovered he was found armed with
sword and cuirass.