Roman Catholics will commemorate tomorrow the feast day of San Ramon Nonato (St. Raymond Nonnatus), who is known in many countries, including the Philippines, as a miraculous healer and powerful intercessor.
Special masses in honor of the great preacher and missionary will be offered today at the Shrine of San Ramon Nonato in Tagas, Daraga, Albay. Commemorative masses will also be held in the towns of Guinlajon and Buenavista in Sorsogon.
Often invoked for safe childbirth, San Ramon, whose name is included in the Roman Martyrology, is also known as the protector of the unborn and the wrongly accused.
San Ramon was born in 1204 in Portella, Catalonia in Spain. Ordained priest in the year 1222, he joined the Orden de la Merced (Mercedarian Order), later serving as its master-general, which helped raise funds to pay the ransom for Christians jailed in North Africa. He was later tortured for standing by his faith.
San Ramon died on Aug. 31, 1240 and was canonized in 1657 by Pope Alexander VII. He remains as one of Spain’s most popular saints to this day.