Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen
Martyr
(1577-1622)
Saint
Fidelis was born of noble parents at Sigmaringen in what is now
Prussia, in 1577. In his youth he frequently approached the Sacraments,
visited the sick and the poor, and spent many hours before the altar.
For a time he followed the legal profession and was remarkable for his
advocacy of the poor and his respectful language towards his opponents.
Finding
it difficult to be both a rich lawyer and a good Christian, Fidelis
entered the Capuchin Order and embraced a life of austerity and prayer.
Hair shirts, iron-pointed girdles, and disciplines were penances too
light for his fervor. At Weltkirchen, where he was Superior of the
convent during an outbreak of the plague, he devoted himself
indefatigably to the care of the sick soldiers and citizens. Animated by
a desire for martyrdom, he rejoiced at being sent with several fellow
Capuchins on a mission to Switzerland, which the newly-founded
Congregation of the Propaganda named him to preside. There he braved
every peril to rescue souls from the errors of Calvin.
When
preaching one day at Sevis he was fired at by a Calvinist, but fear of
death could not deter him from proclaiming divine truth. After his
sermon, when leaving the city he was waylaid by a body of his enemies,
who attacked him and tried to force him to embrace their so-called
reform. But he said, I came to refute your errors, not to embrace them; I
will never renounce Catholic doctrine, which is the truth of all ages,
and I fear not death. On this they fell upon him with their daggers; and
the first martyr of the Propaganda, losing his life for Christ, went to
find in heaven the veritable life his Master promised to all who are
losers for His sake.
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