Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

The Miraculous bread of St. Nicholas of Tolentino

The tradition began when Nicholas was quite ill and beginning to show the ravages of old age; he was so sick and so debilitated, he was about to die. 

His superiors asked him to eat a little meat and some nourishing foods.  After all, they pleaded, they needed him, they and the community and his Souls in Purgatory! 

He wanted to obey his superiors, but he also knew the power of fasting toward moving God’s Heart. 

So he prayed to Our Lady.  Now, we know how much she loves her priests, her favorite sons, especially ones like Nicholas of Tolentino. 

Mother Mary appeared with the Baby Jesus in her arms. 

She handed Nicholas a small bit of bread; the Infant Jesus was holding a chalice filled with water; Mother Mary enjoined Nicholas to dip the bread into the chalice and then to eat it.  Upon obeying the Mother of God, his Mother, he immediately recovered from his illness, and had more strength than he had ever known before. 

From that time on, St. Nicholas would bless little pieces of bread, which he would distribute among the people.  Healings abounded.  Author's note: When we visited Tolentino for the first time in 1977, the nun at the Shrine gave us some “St. Nicholas’ bread.” 

There were approximately six little crackers enclosed in cellophane packages.  Just having returned to the Church two years before, and not having had much real education in the Faith at the time, Penny asked how much we were to give someone who was suffering, to bring about a cure.  The nun made a very wise statement, a teaching which has stayed with us these many years.  She said:

“It takes a little bread and a lot of faith.” 

Three hundred and seventy-three miracles were attributed to his intercession.  They were investigated, and over 300 miracles were accepted by Mother Church.  Pope Eugene IV canonized St. Nicholas on the Feast of Pentecost, June 5, 1446.  The Pope had a special devotion to St. Nicholas.  He had prayed to him, for the success of the Council of Florence; it had been called to make smooth the path to unification of all Christians, the Greek Church with the Latin.  Because many of the Eastern churches returned to the Chair of Peter through that Council, Pope Eugene IV attributed it to the intercession of St. Nicholas.

Forty years after his death, a tomb was erected where the faithful could come to venerate the Saint.  One day, a disturbed fanatic, desiring to have part of the Saint to bring back to his country, decided to cut off his arms.  When he performed this sacrilegious operation on the Saint’s body, the Saint’s arms began to bleed profusely, forty years after his death.  The rest of the body has decomposed, but from that time on, the miraculous arms have been incorrupt and were venerated in their own special chapel.  They are still solemnly processed on the Saint’s Feast Day.  In 1926, the body was investigated and the Church verified that it was the body of the Saint.  At that time, the arms were reunited with the rest of the body, a silver mask was placed over the Saint’s face and the remains of the Saint are exposed for veneration, at the base of the Altar of Sacrifice, fitting for a priest who had prayed for so many Souls as he celebrated Mass. 

Because of the many Souls that were released from Purgatory through his prayers, and the Masses he celebrated for the Poor Souls, he became and is known as the Saint of Purgatory.

Read more continued click here