SERGIO di RADONESC, saint. — In the world Bartolomeo, one of the great Russian saints. Born between 1314 and 1319 and died in the vicinity of Radonese on 25 September 1392.
Inclined to piety from childhood, at the age of 20 he obtained permission to become a monk, which he did after the death of his parents. Dissatisfied with the spirit of the contemporary Russian monasteries, S., together with his brother, began an eremitical life in a virgin forest near Radonese and erected there with his own hands a chapel in honor of the Most Holy Trinity, something singular in Russia at that time. Shortly afterward S. was abandoned by his brother, but continued on, overcoming every danger of body and soul. In 1337 he received the tonsure and his monastic name. Soon the fame of his holiness attracted disciples around S. A small community was formed, the nucleus of the celebrated Lavra of the Trinity, of which S. was elected superior. He was also ordained a priest. Nevertheless, he continued to devote himself to manual labor, giving admirable examples of meekness, poverty, and trust in Providence, and becoming the embodiment of the ideal of perfection for the Russian people. S. revived the cenobitic life, which had then fallen into decline, setting an example that was imitated by many monasteries in Russia; he became the destination of numerous pilgrimages and a beacon of the restoration of the homeland after the catastrophe of the Mongol invasion.
He was, according to Kliucevskii, «the great national educator of the Russian people». He possessed a special gift for touching hearts and restoring harmony among the princes; he knew how to harmonize an intensely interior life with action of national importance; he blessed and encouraged
Prince Dimitrii in the war against the Tatars, and, learning through revelation of his victory in distant places, had his monks sing a Te Deum. S.’s name is linked to this victory, and he is regarded as the protector of the homeland. While S. was still alive, no fewer than 25 monasteries sprang from the Lavra of the Trinity; this number would have to be tripled to measure the number of convents erected on the initiative of the Saint. He was canonized in 1452, and his cult was recognized by the Catholic Church through the insertion of his name in the 1942 Slavic Epistolary. Feast day: 25 September.