St. Joseph Mary Tomasi

Welcome to INSPIRING LIVES, a series on lives of Saints in the catholic church from around the world. In this series we bring you those saints who are canonized by Pope John Paul II. Saints are holy people who lived ordinary lives in extraordinary ways. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. These saints are examples of great holiness and virtue, and they invite us to follow their paths to holiness. Their unique stories inspire us to be rooted in our faith. God calls each one of us to be a saint.
Today we listen to the heroic life of St. Joseph Mary Tomasi (1649-1713). At his death, Pope Clement XI said ‘Cardinal Tomasi was an authentic model of the most holy and ancient discipline and we already expect much from his virtues and his doctrine’. He was canonized on 12 October 1986 in the Vatican Basilica in Rome.xxxJoseph Tomasi was born at Licata, Sicily, on 12th September 1649. He was the first son of Julius Tomasi, the Prince of Lampedusa and Rosalie Traina. Formed and educated in the noble paternal home, where they did not lack riches nor virtue, he was very open to study and to piety. His parents greatly cared for his own Christian formation and his instruction in the classical and modern languages, especially in the Spanish language. He was destined by the family for the court of Madrid, as he was bound to inherit from his own father, his noble title of ‘Grande of Spain’.
But his own spirit aspired from his childhood to serve not the kings of the earth but the King of heaven. He cultivated his pious desire in his heart until he obtained the consent of his father to follow his vocation to the religious life.
After having renounced, by means of a notarial document, the principate, which belonged to him through heredity, and his very rich patrimony, he was admitted into the Order of the Clerics Regular Theatine, founded by St. Cajetan of Thien in 1524. He made his religious profession at Palermo, on 25 March 1666.
In the new state of life, he was able to dedicate himself better to piety and study. The sacred Liturgy had been his attraction from childhood. Even as a child he wanted to wear every day the clothes of the liturgical color of the day. Gregorian chant had blossomed soon on his lips. The sacred languages of Latin and Greek, he knew well and appreciated from his adolescence.
He completed his studies of philosophy in Messina, Ferrara, Bologna and Modena, and Theology in Rome. On 23 December 1673, he was ordained a Priest in the Lateran Basilica by Mons. Joachim De Angelis, Archbishop of Urbino. Two days later, on the night of the Nativity, he celebrated his first Mass, in the church of San Silvestro al Quirinale, at that time the residence of the General House of the Theatine Fathers.
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The priestly anointing seemed to have incardinated Father Tomasi to Rome and gave him Roman citizenship. Here, for almost forty years, he dedicated himself, with intense piety and to assiduous studies. To his already acquired knowledge of Latin and Greek, he added that of Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldean and Arabic.
Urged by his particular love for the ancient documents of the Church and for the sound ecclesiastical traditions, he dedicated himself to the publication of rare liturgical books and of the ancient texts of the sacred Liturgy. He brought to light many ancient sacred scriptures which until then had been hidden in the libraries. Tomasi also edited many volumes dealing with biblical, patristic and principally liturgical subjects.
On account of his vast scholarship and virtues, Father Tomasi acquired such fame and esteem that everyone sought and felt honored by his acquaintance, knowledge, and friendship. Christina Alexandra, the Queen of Sweden, wanted him among the members whom she honored among her own circle of scholars. The Roman Academy of Arcadia counted him among its own illustrious members. The learned Rabbi of the Synagogue of Rome, Moses Cave, who was converted to Catholicism while he taught Father Tomasi Hebrew, considered him his friend and father in the faith.
But the greater the praises he received from others, the more he tried to remain hidden, even to the point of publishing some of his own works under a pseudonym.

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Even though he was among important persons and scholars of the time, he dedicated himself to the formation of the simple faithful. For them he composed prayers based on Sacred scripture. He also wrote a brief statement of how fruitfully to assist at the Eucharist, as well as a condensed version of the Psalms selected and prepared for facilitating the prayer of the Christians.
Out of humility, he quickly renounced his appointment as General Consultor of his Order, citing the many occupations he already had in the Roman Curia. He was already a Consultor of the Sacred Congregations of Rites, and of Indulgences, as well as Qualificator of the Holy Office.
His many publications on liturgical subjects, in which piety was united with scholarship, motivated his contemporaries to give him the titles of "the Prince of the Roman Liturgists" and of "Liturgical Doctor".
In fact, many of the norms, established by the Roman Pontiffs and by the documents of the Second Vatican Council and today praiseworthily in use in the Church, were already proposed and ardently desired by Father Tomasi. Among them are the present-day form of the Liturgy of the Hours for the prayer of the Divine Office; the distinction and use of the Missal and of the Lectionary in the celebration of the Eucharist; various norms contained in the Pontifical and in the Roman Ritual. He himself recommended the use of the vernacular language, especially in private devotions and in the prayers made in common by the faithful. All these were intended to promote a more intimate and personal participation of the People of God at the celebration of the sacred Liturgy.
However, all his labors in research and in studies did not distract Father Tomasi from aiming constantly at the attainment of that evangelical perfection to which God had called him from his childhood.
To all he was an example of profound humility, of the spirit of mortification and of sacrifice, of faithful observance, of meekness, poverty, piety, and filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He helped the poor; gave relief to the sick, both at home and in the hospital of St. John Lateran. In this way wisdom and charity were united and harmonized in him.

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Pope Clement XI, who knew him personally and admired his eminent virtues, named him cardinal, in the Consistory of 18 May 1712. He accepted the cardinalate only through the expressed mandate of the Pope. Placed in this sublime grade, he illuminated the roman Church with the splendor of his virtues, that many venerated him as another St. Charles Borromeo, whom he himself had proposed to imitate.
As a Cardinal, he changed none of his previous rule of life. For his court and for the service of his home he chose, the poor, the weak, and the physically handicapped. In his titular church of Ss. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti he not only participated in the liturgical celebrations of the Carmelite Fathers, but also dedicated himself to teaching the catechism and Christian doctrine to children and to the faithful.
But such a light of good example and of virtues shone for a short time. Just before completing eight months as a Cardinal, he was struck by a violent pneumonia after he took part, as a member of the Papal chapel, at the vigil of the Nativity in the Vatican Basilica. He died a saintly death on 1^st January 1713.
Pope Pius VII proclaimed him Blessed on 29 September 1803. Pope John Paul II canonized him on 12 October 1986. His feast is celebrated on 3 January. The relics of his body are presently exposed for the veneration of the faithful in the Basilica of San Andrea della Valle of the Theatine Fathers, in Rome.P.J. Joseph SJ