SERGIUS of Radonezh, Saint. — Born Bartolomeo, one of the great Russian saints. Born between 1314-19 and died near Radonezh on 25 Sept. 1392.
Endowed with piety from childhood, he obtained permission to become a monk at the age of 20, which he did after the death of his parents. Dissatisfied with the spirit of contemporary Russian monasteries, St Sergius, together with his brother, began a hermit’s life in a virgin forest near Radonezh, where he built with his own hands a chapel in honour of the Most Holy Trinity, an act then unusual in Russia. Soon after, his brother abandoned him, but he persevered, overcoming every danger to body and soul. In 1337 he received the tonsure and the monastic name. Soon the fame of his holiness drew disciples around him. A small community formed, the nucleus of the celebrated Trinity Lavra, of which he was elected superior. He was also ordained priest. Yet he continued to engage in manual labour, giving marvellous examples of meekness, poverty, and trust in Providence, becoming the embodiment of the ideal of perfection for the Russian people. He introduced the cenobitic life, then in decline, and his example was imitated by many monasteries in Russia, becoming a destination for numerous pilgrimages and a torch of the restoration of the homeland after the catastrophe of the Mongol invasion.
He was, according to Kliuchevskii, the great national educator of the Russian people. He possessed a special gift for touching hearts and restoring concord among princes; he knew how to harmonise an intense interior life with action of national scope; he blessed and encouraged the
(from A. Silvagni, Men. epig. christ., I, Rome, Vatican City 1833, tav. 2, 7) Sergius IV, pope — Epitaph of St Sergius IV. Lines 1-2 are partly reworked, as are some letters — Rome, basilica of St John Lateran.
buried in St Peter’s; the tomb is not preserved, but its epitaph is known.
with constant penance and mortification of the Passion of the Redeemer. He received many charismatic gifts, including the crown of thorns and the stigmata. He died smiling after seven years of physical martyrdom joined to great mystical sufferings, repeating « Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus ». His cause of beatification was introduced in 1741.