Saint Rainerius of Pisa: from musician to merchant to saint

Synthèse :

Rainier (also known as Raynerius, Rainerius, and Rainieri) was born around 1117 in Pisa, Italy, into a family of wealthy merchants. His parents, Gandulfo Scacceri and Mingarda Buzzaccherini, were prominent citizens of the Republic of Pisa, and the child's future seemed assured at every level.

But like Saint Francis of Assisi in the early 13th century, the young man abandoned his studies and the privileges of his class to become an itinerant musician. He played the lyre and hurdy-gurdy and sang well. He moved from place to place, much to the displeasure of his family. His parents' efforts to bring him back to his senses were in vain: his youth was clearly marked by recklessness. Rainier led a dissolute life, not hesitating to steal his food: his finger was cut off as punishment for stealing cheese.

Around 1136, aged barely twenty, Ranieri met a layman of Corsican origin, Alberto Leccapecore, a former soldier who had renounced arms for his faith and who, after the death of Saint Rainier, went to Paris where Louis VII took him on as an adviser. It was a decisive meeting that was to change the young musician's destiny.

To begin with, Alberto persuaded Rainier to confess his sins to a priest. Little by little, Alberto helped him to become a committed Christian. Rainier's inner transformation was both rapid and profound. 

He intended to put himself at God's service without delay. An idea popped into his head: to go to the Holy Land, visit the Holy Sepulchre, and follow in Jesus' footsteps...But how? He didn't have a penny and he couldn't imagine asking his family to pay for the trip... But he set off without delay, putting his social skills at God's service. Remembering what he had certainly seen and learned in his family background, he improvised himself as a merchant, not to get rich but to reach Jerusalem.

Against all odds, he succeeded in this endeavor. He reached various Mediterranean ports and in less than four years his fortune was made.

However, he had promised God to live like Jesus: in a word, to go against his own people when it came to earthly possessions. In 1240, he got rid of all his riches and distributed them to the poor. He put on the penitent's robe that was given at the time to pilgrims (pilurica) on their way to the Holy Sepulchre. He shared the life of hermits who, like him, had given up everything for the Gospel, abstaining from food every day of the week except Thursday and Sunday. His first miracles date from this period. He spent a total of thirteen years in the Holy Land.

On his return to Pisa in 1153 (or 1154), he already enjoyed a reputation as a saint and miracle-worker. Although he shunned all those who came to him in various capacities, his popularity continued to grow. In his home town, he was constantly observed, admired and sometimes envied. He just thought of himself as a great sinner on the road to conversion.

He gave up his soul to God seven years after his return from the Holy Land, on Friday 17 June 1161.
His compatriots gave him an exceptional funeral, and his remains were soon placed in Pisa Cathedral, alongside the tomb of the German emperor Henry VII. One of his disciples, the canon Benincasa, wrote his first biography in 1162. This text, translated throughout Europe, was still being reprinted in Pisa in the mid-19th century.

A saint of charity and contemplation, Rainier is celebrated in his home town through two municipal and religious festivals that honour his extraordinary devotion to the poor and his legendary abandonment to divine providence (including the famous Luminara di San Ranieri).

Pope Alexander III, his contemporary, included him in the list of saints.

In 1632, the archbishop of Pisa, the local clergy and the Pisan magistrate, together with the Sacred Congregation of Rites, elected Ranieri as the principal patron saint of the city and the diocese.

Au-delà des raisons d'y croire :

Outwardly, Saint Rainier's original path to sainthood, abandonned to divine Providence, is full of adventure and unpredictability: nothing is calculated, nothing is planned, everything comes from God. In spiritual terms, it is a masterly reminder that the most belated vocations, the most disconcerting commitments and the most unusual personal journeys and unique calls can lead to holiness.

Aller plus loin :

On the santiebeati.it website, the article on Saint Ranieri of Pisa (in Italian).

En savoir plus :

• Vita auctore Benincasa, AASS, June, vol. IV, col. 345-381.
• Sylvie Barnay, "Rainier de Pise (saint, + 1161)", in René Laurentin and Patrick Sbalchiero (eds.), Dictionnaire des apparitions de la Vierge Marie, Paris, Fayard, 2007, p. 790.
• The various items of information available on the Beni Ecclesiastici website (life of Saint Rainier, frescoes in the Campo Santo in Pisa, etc.).
• Alain Venturini, "Le Bienheureux Alberto Leccapecore de la Corse à Clairvaux, via Pise, Compostelle et Paris (vers 1090-vers 1155)", Bulletin de la Société des Sciences historiques et naturelles de la Corse, n° 760-761, La Corse et le monde méditerranéen de la fin du Moyen Âge à l'époque moderne, p. 81-100.