The Catholic Defender: Saint Charles of Sezze

Charles, the son of lowly country folk, was born at Sezze in Italy on October 22, 1613. At the urgent request of his grand-mother, the rearing of the child was entrusted to her, and the gentle boy acquired a great love of God and of prayer from the example and teaching of this devout lady. He grasped the truths of religion so readily that his parents entertained the sweet hope that Charles would later become a priest.

His baptism was celebrated on 22 October 1613. His mother – when he was a toddler – liked to dress him in a dark tunic with a cord and hood in honour of friars Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Anthony of Padua and she kept this ‘habit’ even after he outgrew it.

Charles, the son of lowly country folk, was born at Sezze in Italy on October 22, 1613. At the urgent request of his grand-mother, the rearing of the child was entrusted to her, and the gentle boy acquired a great love of God and of prayer from the example and teaching of this devout lady. He grasped the truths of religion so readily that his parents entertained the sweet hope that Charles would later become a priest.

His family was extremely pious. They lived in a rural area and as a child Saint Charles worked as a shepherd. Due to his lack of education, it is said he learned only the basics and could barely read and write. He joined the Franciscans as a lay brother in Naziano, where he served as a cook, porter, and gardener.

His maternal grandmother Valenza Pilorci instilled devout practices and other religious values within him in his childhood. He worked on the farm as a shepherd to help his parents with the exhaustive workload and liked to plough in the fields because he liked the oxen.

He made a private vow to remain chaste in 1630 and in 1633 fell ill to the point of near death that he pledged to join the Order of Friars Minor if he were to be healed of his ailment. His parents encouraged his call to become a priest but was a poor student and could not read or write much so there was no hope he would excel in advanced studies.

But when Charles was old enough to go to school, his studies did not meet with marked success; and so, when his schooling ended, his parents were sensible enough to put him to work in the fields with his brothers. There, in God’s free nature, a new light came to the boy. From books he had not learned much, but he understood very well the wonders of God’s creation. Everything conspired to raise his thoughts to heavenly things, so that his work was constantly mingled with interior prayer. He began to receive the sacraments more frequently, and evinced real zeal for Christian perfection.

Charles was assigned to a number of friaries in the Roman province, working at various jobs: porter, gardener, cook, quaestor (the friar who went out begging for alms), and sacristan. He also devoted himself to intense prayer and works of charity.

Our of veneration for the Virgin Mother of God, he made a vow of chastity at the age of seventeen, and he preserved it so faithfully that the Beloved of pure souls, “who feeds among the lilies” (Cant. 2,16), seemed to have His dwelling-place in the heart of Charles. He was seized with a great desire for holiness. He read with delight the lives of the saints and related them to the others while at work. In the Franciscan church which he often visited, he used to study the pictures of the saints with a desire to imitate them.

When he was twenty years old he fell dangerously ill, so that his life was despaired of. Then he made a vow that, if he would recover, he would enter the Franciscan Order.

At once his illness took a turn for the better, and, true to his vow, although there were many hardships to overcome, Charles received the habit two years later. After his consecration to God through the vows, he advanced visibly not only in piety but in all the virtues of his state of life, so that even the oldest brothers were edified by him and followed his example. He ardently desired to shed his blood for Christ, and asked that he might be sent as a lay brother to the missions in India; but a new illness frustrated the design.

In practical matters Charles often seemed to be awkward, a “disaster waiting to happen”: once, while cooking, when the oil in which he was frying onions burst into flames. This created a major fire in the friary. On the other hand, he developed a powerful spiritual insight into people and situations.

He was sent to a convent in Rome so that he could fully recover his health. But here God Almighty destined him for another field of labor.

He received remarkable enlightenment about things divine and about the truths of religion, so that the most learned theologians were astonished at it and consulted with him on some of the most difficult questions. The cardinals and even Pope Clement IX sought his advice. In compliance with the will of God he also wrote several books about spiritual things.

Saint Charles was known for his holiness, simplicity, and charity. He was generous to travelers and sought out spiritual advice. In 1656 he worked tirelessly with victims of the plague. He also wrote several mystical works including his autobiography entitled "The Grandeurs of the Mercies of God". Tradition states he was called to the bedside of the dying Pope Clement IX for a blessing. St. Charles told the Pope that they would meet again on January 6.

Once, the guardian of a convent ordered Charles—who was the porter at the time—to give food only to traveling friars who came to the door. He did this in obedience, and alms to the friars decreased. He persuaded the guardian that the two facts were related. When the friars resumed helping all who requested assistance, offerings to the friars increased. Gradually, Charles’s reputation spread; he was sought out for advice by prominent families and high ecclesiastics, including three popes.

Charles thought that God was calling him to be a missionary in India, but he never got there. God had something better for this 17th-century successor to Brother Juniper.

Charles tells us in his autobiography, “Our Lord put in my heart a determination to become a lay brother with a great desire to be poor and to beg alms for his love.”

Charles served as cook, porter, sacristan, gardener and beggar at various friaries in Italy. In some ways, he was “an accident waiting to happen.” He once started a huge fire in the kitchen when the oil in which he was frying onions burst into flames.

On 28 July 1665 he had a vision of Pope Victor I and Teresa of Ávila

At the direction of his confessor, Charles wrote his autobiography, The Grandeurs of the Mercies of God. He also wrote several other spiritual books. He made good use of his various spiritual directors throughout the years; they helped him discern which of Charles’ ideas or ambitions were from God. Charles himself was sought out for spiritual advice. The dying Pope Clement IX called Charles to his bedside for a blessing.

Despite his lack of education, Charles began to put his insights into writing. Besides an extensive correspondence, he wrote a number of devotional works, described as “solid, spiritual, and seraphic.”

Charles had a firm sense of God’s providence. Father Severino Gori has said, “By word and example he recalled in all the need of pursuing only that which is eternal” (Leonard Perotti, St. Charles of Sezze: An Autobiography, page 215).

Pope Clement IX summoned him to his deathbed for comfort and a blessing not long before the two men died. In the first week of December 1669 the pope summoned him but the friar was ill so was taken to the pope on a chair. He greeted the pope: "Holy Father, how are you?" and the pope responded: "As well as God wants me to be". The pope wanted the frail friar to bless him and so he did. Clement IX asked when the two would meet again and the friar told him it would be on the feast of the Epiphany to which those present thought the pope would get well and the two would meet in a month. But the pope died on 9 December and people questioned how the friar was wrong though after the friar died on the Epiphany itself it was realized the pope would greet him as a friend in Heaven thus the two met again

In October 1648 he attended Mass when a beam of light emanated from an elevated Host that pierced his side and left a visible open wound at his side.

At the same time the pious brother remained deeply humble. Concerning his remarkable gift of enlightenment he used to say to himself, that Our Lord in His wisdom hides such things from the wise but reveals them to the simple, to which class he belonged. He so fervently adored his Lord under the appearances of bread that one day a ray of light like an arrow went out from the Sacred Host and impressed a wound in his left side. This wound was still visible after his death.

The friar had predicted that Innocent X and Alexander VII would be elected as popes and likewise predicted Clement IX would be elected as well. But he also managed to predict that Cardinal Emilio Altieri would be elected as pope - which happened not long after his death.

On 31 December 1669, he was forced to his bed due to pleurisy. On 6 January 1670, he died in the convent attached to San Francesco a Ripa in Rome; he was buried in that church, where a chapel dedicates to his name still hosts his remnants.

His devotion to the Lord, and love of the Eucharist, was such that he was graced with a mystical wound on his heart. Throughout his life, Saint Charles demonstrated the virtues of charity and self-giving love to all he encountered.

Though he kept himself under the guidance of a spiritual director he himself – though not a priest – was often sought for spiritual advice and even Pope Innocent X and Alexander VII sought him out for advice. In 1656 he tended to victims of cholera .

On 22 August 1664 he was at San Pietro in Montorio when he fell ill with malarial fever and so was taken to San Francesco a Ripa to recuperate; he recovered on 30 August after bed rest was prescribed to him. On 28 July 1665 he had a vision of Pope Saint Victor I and Saint Teresa of Ávila.

His beatification was celebrated in 1882 while Pope Pius XII approved his canonization in 1958; but the pope died before he could canonize the friar so his successor Pope John XXIII did so on 12 April 1959.

The ratification of two miracles attributed to his intercession on 1 October 1881 allowed for Pope Leo XIII to preside over the beatification celebration on 22 January 1882 in Saint Peter's Basilica. Pope Pius XII confirmed two additional miracles on 7 January 1958 but died before he could canonize the friar; Pope John XXIII canonized him on 12 April 1959 as a saint.

Saint Charles died on January 6, 1670 in Rome of natural causes, fulfilling his promise to meet Pope Clement IX, and he is buried in Rome in the Church of Saint Francis. He was Canonized by Pope John XXIII on April 12, 1959.

Charles died at the friary of San Francesco a Ripa in Rome on January 6, 1670. He was beatified in 1882 and canonized by Pope Saint John XXIII in 1959.

He died at San Francesco a Ripa in Rome and was buried there. Pope John XXIII canonized him in 1959.

The confirmation of his life of heroic virtue allowed for Pope Clement XIV to title the late Franciscan friar as Venerable on 14 June 1772 while the ratification of two miracles attributed to his intercession on 1 October 1881 allowed for Pope Leo XIII to preside over the beatification celebration on 22 January 1882 in Saint Peter’s Basilica. Pope Pius XII confirmed two additional miracles on 7 January 1958 but died before he could canonise the friar; Pope John XXIII canonised him on 12 April 1959 as a saint.

St. Charles teaches us the way to oppose the devil and all the fallen angels in their incessant warfare against our souls. Very few will ever be asked to suffer bodily harm from the devil, but all must suffer, and overcome, his temptations to pride, lust and ambition.

Although he was quite unlettered, still, through the ever increasing influence of the Holy Spirit he wrote books that make him one of the greatest mystical writers of the Church, ranking with St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila.

"Our Lord put in my heart a determination to become a lay brother with a great desire to be poor and to beg alms for his love."

God does not command us to live in hair shirts and chains, or to chastise our flesh with scourges, but to love Him above all things and our neighbor as ourselves.

The prayer of the sick person is his patience and his acceptance of the sickness for the love of Jesus Christ.