Raymund Nonnatus

Raymund Nonnatus (1204–40), Mercedarian friar and cardinal. Everything known of him depends on late and not very reliable sources. According to these he was extracted from his mother's womb just after she had died (whence the name Nonnatus or ‘not born’) at Portello (Catalonia). He joined the Mercedarian Order under Peter Nolasco at Barcelona. He was sent to Algeria where he redeemed many slaves and offered himself as a ransom for others' liberation. He obtained some success in the difficult task of converting Moslems to Christianity and was captured, but then freed from prison. In 1239 he returned to Spain where he was nominated a cardinal by Pope Gregory IX. He died at Cardona, near Barcelona, on his way to Rome. Both in life and after death he had the reputation of a miracle-worker. Because of his own unusual birth he is invoked as patron of midwives. Feast: 31 August.

Bibliography
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• AA.SS. Aug. VI (1743), 737–46; O.D.C.C., p. 1161; B.L.S., viii. 331–2; Bibl. SS., xi. 12–16