SAINT NICHOLAS de FLUE,

(1417-1487)

"My Lord and my God, remove from me all that can prevent me from going to You.

My Lord and my God, give me all that can draw me to You.

My Lord and my God, remove me from myself that I might give my all to You." - St. Nicholas de Flue

Spiritual Bouquet: He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. St. John 6:35

Nicholas von Flue was born on March 21st, 1417 of pious parents, in the Canton of Unterwalden on the lake of Lucerne, Switzerland. As he grew up he proved himself a capable farmer, and the ability he displayed in the local parliament, of which every male citizen was a member, led to his election at an early age as councillor and judge. He also proved himself a capable commander of troops. In the war against the duke of Tirol he persuaded his compatriots to respect a convent of nuns. Though willing to perform his military service, Nicholas condemned as immoral, wars of aggression and the slaughter of non-combatants inevitable in any major modern war.

One day, when he saw an arrow launched on a neighboring mountain, he was filled with a desire for Heaven and with love for solitude. About the age of thirty he married a farmer's daughter, Dorothy Wiss, and built a farmhouse to receive her. The couple had ten children and descendants survive to this day. Nicholas had thus approved himself to his countrymen as a thoroughly capable man, as farmer, military leader, member of the assembly, councillor, judge and father of a family—also a man of complete moral integrity. All the while, however, he led a life of contemplative prayer and rigorous fasting.

He was fifty years old when an interior voice said to him: "Leave everything you love, and God will take care of you." He had to undergo a distressing combat, but decided finally to leave everything — wife, children, house, lands — to serve God. He left, barefooted, clothed in a long robe of coarse fabric, in his hand a rosary, without money or provisions, casting a final tender and prolonged gaze on his loved ones. His habitual prayer was this: "My Lord and my God, remove from me all that can prevent me from going to You. My Lord and my God, give me all that can draw me to You." Though she had just borne his tenth child, his wife heroically consented. His neighbors, however, even his older children, regarded his action as indefensible, unbalanced, immoral and irresponsible.

He set out for Alsace, where he intended to live. Had he carried out his intention, his vocation would have been missed. A storm, however, symbolically interpreted, and friendly advice not to settle where the Swiss were detested made him turn back from the border. He resumed to his native canton, passing the first night undiscovered in the cow-shed of his farm and settled in a hermitage at Ranft within a few miles of his home. It was no temptation to return home, as he never felt the least desire for his former life. One night God penetrated the hermit with a brilliant light, and from that time on he never again experienced hunger, thirst or cold.

The news of his presence, when it spread, brought him a great influx of visitors. Distinguished persons came to him for counsel in matters of great importance. It may seem incredible that the holy hermit lived for nineteen years only by the Holy Eucharist; the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, startled by this fact, had his cabin surveyed and verified this fact as being beyond question. As an act of obedience to a bishop he once ate with acute agony a piece of soaked bread.

When Switzerland for a moment was divided and threatened with civil war in 1480, Saint Nicholas de Flue, venerated by all, was chosen as arbiter, to prevent the shedding of blood. He spoke so wisely that a union was reached, to the joy of all concerned, and the nation was saved. Bells were set ringing all over the country, and the concerted jubilation echoed across the lakes, mountains and valleys, from the most humble cottage to the largest cities.

At the age of 70, Saint Nicholas fell ill with a very painful sickness which tormented him for eight days and nights without overcoming his patience. He was beatified in 1169 by Pope Clement IX, canonized in 1947, by Pope Pius XII.

Taken from "The Saints: A concise Biographical Dictionary", edited by John Coulson, published by Hawthorn Books, Inc. 1960.

Also, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l’année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950).