Bl. Guido of Cortona, Confessor Priest, Franciscan
by VP
Posted on Wednesday June 12, 2024 at 01:00AM in Saints
Prayer: O God, who hast given to us blessed Guy, Thy confessor, to be an example of perfection in religious life, and a minister of evangelical preaching; grant, we beseech Thee, that through his intercession we may by good works set a bright example before our neighbours. Manual of the Third order of st. Francis of Assisi, Volume 2
"(Yet) it was chiefly in the country around Lake Thrasymene that Francis had worked that year. He had passed the whole of the great Lent in seclusion upon one of the islands in the lake-the Isola Maggiore; then he went forth to evangelize the neighbourhood.
So he came to Cortona and preached there. Now when the sermon was concluded a youth named Guy approached Francis and offered him a lodging in his house. He was a noble youth and very wealthy, but quite unspoiled by his possessions which he held as a trust for the poor; and always he gave to the poor whatever he did not need for his own frugal maintenance. Francis gladly accepted his proffered hospitality. That evening Guy waited upon Francis and his companion as upon most honoured guests; he washed their feet with reverence and himself served them at supper; and when the meal was over he begged that they would consider his goods as their own and whenever they were in want of habits or anything else allow him to supply their need. Francis was entirely won by the youth's open-handed generosity and his delicate courtesy; and when he and his companion were retiring to rest, he said: "My dear brother, this noble youth, who is so mindful of and grateful to God, and so loving and courteous towards his neighbours and the poor, would do well for our life and company. For know you, dear brother, that courtesy is one of the properties of God, who of His courtesy, gives His sun and rain to the just and the unjust: and courtesy is the sister of charity by which hatred is extinguished and love is cherished. And because I have seen so much divine virtue in this man, therefore gladly would I have him for a companion." And at that Francis began to pray that Guy might become one of the fraternity. Guy meanwhile felt a keen desire not merely to befriend his guests in their needs but to be one with them in their life, and shortly afterwards he came and cast himself on his knees before Francis, asking to be admitted into his company. So he distributed all his goods to the poor, and afterwards in the public church received the habit of Poverty.
Now some little distance from Cortona, at the foot of the high hill on which the city is built, and on the other side from the low ground which stretches out to Lake Thrasymene, there is a gurgling rivulet which comes from the mountains, passing down its rocky course through a deep ravine; and by the side of this rivulet there were then some rock caves.
Hither Francis and Guy now betook themselves, and made a narrow hermitage so near to the rivulet that its waters sprayed the walls of their caves. And there Guy made
his abode until his death many years later. He divided his days between
prayer and manual work, even when after a time he was ordained priest by obedience. Now and then he interrupted his life of contemplation and climbed the long hill and preached to the people of the city: but it was mostly by his life that he preached to them: and the Celle-the caves in which Guy and his companions lived—became a constant admonition to the citizens, of the life which is beyond this earth." Life of St. Francis by Father Cuthbert (O.S.F.C.)