On Ash Wednesday in 1218, the abbess and some of her nuns went to their new monastery of St. Sixtus, to take possession of it. They were in the chapter house with St. Dominic and the three cardinals above mentioned treating of the rights, revenues, and administration of the new community, when, on a sudden, there came in a person, tearing his hair, and making great lamentation, crying out, that the lord Napoleon, cardinal Stephen’s nephew, was thrown from his horse, and killed by the fall.
At this news the afflicted uncle fell speechless with his head upon the breast of St. Dominic, who sat by his side; and his silence was more expressive of his sorrow than any words could have been. The saint endeavored at first to alleviate his grief; then ordered the body of Napoleon to be brought into the house, and bid brother Tancred make an altar ready that he might say mass. When he had prepared himself, the cardinals with their attendants, the abbess with her nuns, the Dominican friars, and a great concourse of people went to the church.
The saint, in celebrating the divine mysteries, shed a flood of tears, and while he elevated the body of Christ in his pure hands, was himself in an ecstasy lifted up a whole cubit from the ground, in the sight, and to the amazement of all that were present. The sacrifice being ended, the blessed man went to the corpse, to implore the mercy of God, being followed by all the company; and standing by the body, he disposed the bruised limbs in their proper places; and then betook himself to prayer.
Dominic raises Napoleon Orsini to life
After some time, he rose up, and made the sign of the cross over the corpse; then lifting up his hands to heaven, he himself being, by the power of God, at the same time raised from the ground, and suspended in the air, cried out with a loud voice, “Napoleon, I say to thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, arise.”
That instant, in the sight of the whole multitude, the young man arose sound and whole. Not only all present, but the whole city, particularly the sacred college, and the pope, gave solemn thanks to the Almighty who, in their unhappy days, had vouchsafed to renew the wonders which he had wrought in the establishment of his church.
The Dominican friars having taken possession of the church and convent of St. Sabina, the nuns of St. Mary were settled in that of St. Sixtus before the first Sunday in Lent, receiving a new habit from the hands of St. Dominic, together with his rule.
Yvo, bishop of Cracow, and chancellor of Poland, was at Rome when Napoleon was raised to life, and an eye-witness to that stupendous miracle. He entreated St. Dominic to give the habit of his Order to his two nephews SS. Hyacinth and Ceslas, and to two others of his domestics. The saint sent certain religious brethren to Bologna in 1217, there to lay the foundation of a convent, which has continued ever since one of the most flourishing monasteries in the world.
The story above was taken from, The Lives Of The Fathers, Martyrs, And Other Principal Saints; Compiled From Original Monuments, And Other Authentic Records written by Rev. Alban Butler and published by Excelsior Publishing House in 1903.
