I was reading the comments and replies in Facebook between the DF and DOF regarding their geneology, descent, or blood line. The DF's great grandfather was from Syria while the DOF's great granddad was from Spain. How very interesting and this got me so excited that I finally sat down and wrote this blog entry about the origin of my maiden name, Tolentino.
Tolentino is a town in Italy. There was an Augustinian friar, ordained at an early age of nineteen who preached and gave a discourse, speech / oration, almost daily for thirty years in the town of Tolentino, Italy. His name was San Nicholas de Tolentino. There are two places named San Nicholas de Tolentino, one is in Italy and the other is in Spain.
Images of San Nicholas de Tolentino
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A short biography of San Nicholas de Tolentino
(c.
1246 – September 10, 1306) – Born at Sant’Angelo in Pontano in Italy, in what
was then the March of Ancona, Nicholas was the son of parents who had been
childless into middle age.
Compagnonus
de Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani, prayed at the shrine of Saint Nicholas of
Myra for his intercession, and when Amata became pregnant they named their son
after the saint.
A
studious, kind and gentle youth, at the age of 18 Nicholas became an
Augustinian Friar and was a student of the Blessed Angelus de Scarpetti. A monk
at the monasteries at Recanati and Macerata as well as others, he was ordained
in 1271 at the age of 25, and soon became known for his preaching and
teachings.
Nicholas,
who had had visions of angels reciting “to Tolentino”, in 1274 took this as a
sign to move to that city, where he lived the rest of his life.
In
Tolentino, Nicholas worked as a peacemaker in a city torn by strife between the
Guelfs and Ghibellines who, in the conflict for control of Italy, supported the
Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor respectively. He ministered to his flock,
helped the poor and visited prisoners. When working wonders or healing people,
he always asked those he helped to “Say nothing of this”, explaining that he
was just God’s instrument. Towards the end of his life he became ill, suffering
greatly, but still continued the mortifications that had been part of his holy
life. Nicholas died in 1306.
During
his life, Nicholas received visions, including images of Purgatory, which
friends ascribed to his lengthy fasts. He had a great devotion to the recently
dead, praying for the souls in Purgatory as he traveled around his parish,
often late into the night. Once, when very ill, he received a vision of Blessed
Virgin Mary and Saints Augustine and Monica who told him to eat a certain type
of bread roll that had been dipped in water. Upon doing so he was immediately
cured. He started distributing these rolls to the ailing, while praying to
Mary, often curing the sufferers; the rolls became known as Saint Nicholas
Bread and are still distributed at his shrine.
San Nicholas Bread
At
his canonization, Nicholas was credited with three hundred miracles, including
three resurrections.
There
are many tales and legends that relate to Nicholas. One says that the devil
once beat him with a stick, which was then displayed for years in his church.
In another, Nicholas, a vegetarian, was served a roasted fowl over which he
made the sign of the cross, and it flew out a window.
Nine
passengers on a ship going down at sea once asked Nicholas’ aid and he appeared
in the sky, wearing the black Augustinian habit, radiating golden light,
holding a lily in his left hand, and with his right hand he quelled the storm.
An apparition of the saint, it is said, once saved the burning palace of the
Doge of Venice by throwing a piece of blessed bread on the flames. He was also
reported to have resurrected over one hundred dead children, including several
who had drowned together.
The
town of Naujan celebrates its annual fiesta on San Nicholas de Tolentino’s
feast day of September 10.
St. Nicholas of Tolentino
Born at Sant' Angelo, near Fermo, in the March of Ancona, about 1246; d. 10 September, 1306. He is depicted in the black habit of the Hermits of St. Augustine — a star above him or on his breast, a lily, or a crucifix garlanded with lilies, in his hand. Sometimes, instead of the lily, he holds a vial filled with money or bread. His parents, said to have been called Compagnonus de Guarutti andAmata de Guidiani (these surnames may merely indicate their birth-places), were pious folk, perhaps gentle born, living content with a small substance. Nicholas was born in response to prayers, his mother a model of holiness. He excelled so much in his studies that even before they were over he was made a canon of St. Saviour's church; but hearing a sermon by a hermit of St. Augustine upon the text: "Nolite diligere mundum, nec ea quae sunt in mundo, quia mundus transit et concupiscentia ejus", he felt a call to embrace the religious life. He besought the hermit for admittance into his order. His parents gave a joyful consent. Even before his ordination he was sent to different monasteries of his order, at Recanati, Macerata etc., as a model of generous striving after perfection. He made his profession before he was nineteen. After his ordination he preached with wonderful success, notably at Tolentino, where he spent his last thirty years and gave a discourse nearly every day. Towards the end, diseases tried his patience, but he kept up his mortifications almost to the hour of death. He possessed an angelic meekness, a guileless simplicity, and a tender love of virginity, which he never stained, guarding it by prayer and extraordinary mortifications. He was canonized by Eugene IV in 1446; his feast is celebrated on 10 September. His tomb, at Tolentino, is held in veneration by the faithful.
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(c.
1246 – September 10, 1306), known as the Patron of Holy Souls, was an Italian saint and mystic.
Interesting. .. a saint actually hailed from a place named Tolentino.
If there's a saint, then there would be churches named after him, right?
Here are just some of the churches, parishes, even cathedrals named after San Nicholas de Tolentino in the Philippines.
* Cathedral of San Nicholas de Tolentino , Surigao City
* San Nicholas de Tolentino, Macabebe, Pampanga
* San Nicholas de Tolentino Parish, Congressional, Quezon City
* San Nicholas de Tolentino Cathedral, Cabanatuan City
* San Nicholas de Tolentino Parish, Mati, Davao Oriental
* San Nicholas de Tolentino, Balaoan Town Proper, Ilocos
* San Nicholas de Tolentino, Intramuros
The Iglesia de San Nicolas de
Tolentino was the home of the Augustinian Recollect Order. The church was the
Order's main headquarters in Asia. The Recollects are a reformed branch of the
Augustinian Order. They arrived in Manila in 1606. It formerly housed the
Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno or more commonly known as the Black Nazarene. Yes,
the Black Nazarene as in the one in Quiapo today. The Recollects brought it to
the country in 1606. The church was known for its stately ambiance, often
compared to its neighbor, the San Agustin Church.
* San Nicholas de Tolentino, agli Orti Sallustiani, Armenia
* San Nicholas de Tolentino, Archdiocese of Chicago
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What is the point of all these? Aside from learning where my maiden name came from, I have discovered that there is a saint named San Nicholas de Tolentino, who lived and preached in the town of Tolentino, to whom I can seek intercession from, San Nicholas de Tolentino, Patron of Holy Souls, pray for us.
Saint Nicholas, you were so attentive to the pleas of many needy souls, and through your prayer and penance, you hastened their enjoyment of the vision of God. Look with compassion on our beloved dead and obtain for them, by your prayers, the full forgiveness of their sins so that they may experience the happiness and peace of the Father’s presence. St. Nicholas of Tolentine, pray for us. Amen
Prayer of Saint Nicholas de Tolentine
Saint Nicholas, you were so attentive to the pleas of many needy souls, and through your prayer and penance, you hastened their enjoyment of the vision of God. Look with compassion on our beloved dead and obtain for them, by your prayers, the full forgiveness of their sins so that they may experience the happiness and peace of the Father’s presence. St. Nicholas of Tolentine, pray for us. Amen
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/ betsisanders 2013
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