Saint Yves
Confessor
(1253-1303)
Saint
Yves Helori, descended from a noble and virtuous family near Treguier
in Brittany, was born in 1253. At fourteen years of age he went to
Paris, and afterwards to Orleans to pursue his studies. His mother was
accustomed to say to him often that he ought to live in such a way as
became a Saint, to which his answer always was that he indeed hoped to
be one. This resolution took deep root in his soul, and was a constant
spur to virtue and a check against the least shadow of any dangerous
course. His time was chiefly divided between study and prayer. For his
recreation he visited the hospitals, where he attended the sick with
great charity, and comforted them in the severe trials which their
sufferings occasioned.
Saint
Yves made a private vow of perpetual chastity; but this was not known,
and many honorable matches were proposed to him, which he modestly
rejected as incompatible with his studious life. He deliberated long
whether to embrace the religious or the clerical state; but his desire
to serve his neighbor determined him at length in favor of the latter.
He wished, out of humility, to remain in the lesser orders; but his
bishop compelled him to receive the priesthood, a step which cost him
many tears, though he had qualified himself for that sacred dignity by
his perfect purity of mind and body, as well as a long and fervent
preparation.
He
was appointed ecclesiastical judge for the diocese of Rennes. Saint
Yves protected orphans and widows, defended the poor, and administered
justice to all with an impartiality, application, and tenderness which
gained him the good-will even of those who lost their causes. He was
surnamed the advocate of the poor. He built near his own house a
hospital for the poor and sick; he washed their feet, cleansed their
ulcers, served them at table, and ate only the scraps which they left.
He distributed among the poor his grain, or the price for which he sold
it, immediately after the harvest. When a certain person endeavored to
persuade him to keep it for a few months, that he might sell it at a
better price, he answered, I know not whether I shall then be alive to
give it. Another time the same person said to him, I have gained a 20%
profit by keeping my grain. But I, replied the Saint, recalling the
Lord's promises, a hundredfold, by immediately giving it away.
During
the Lent of 1303 he felt his strength failing him; yet, far from
abating anything in his austerities, he thought himself obliged to
redouble his fervor in proportion as he advanced nearer to eternity. On
the eve of the Ascension he preached to his people and said Mass
supported at the altar by two persons, and he gave advice to all who
addressed themselves to him. After this he lay down on his pallet of
plaited twigs and branches, and received the Last Sacraments. From that
moment on he spoke with God alone, until his soul went to possess Him in
His glory. His death occurred in May, 1303, in his fiftieth year.
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