Saint
Bernardine of Siena was born in 1380 in a town near Siena,
Italy. His father was an Italian governor. When he was seven, his parents died
and he was taken in by relatives who loved him as if he were their own. He received
a good education and grew up to be a tall, handsome boy that everyone loved
to be with.
He had a special love for the Blessed Mother. She was the one who kept him pure. As a teenager, he would pray to her much like a child talks with his mother.
Bernardine was very tender-hearted and felt great pity for the poor. When a plague struck the area in 1400, Bernardine and his friends volunteered to help the sick and dying, day and night for six weeks until the plague had ended.
At twenty-two, Bernardine joined the Franciscan order. Several years after becoming a priest, he was assigned to go to towns and cities to preach. He is known as a great reformer, who encouraged devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. He is know for his use of the monogram, IHS. He died on May 20, 1444, at the age of sixty-four in Aquila, Italy. He was declared a saint in 1450, by Pope Nicholas V. Saint Bernardine is the patron of advertisers and advertising; he is invoked against hoarseness.
