Andrew Corsini

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St. Andrew Corsini
St. Andrew Corsini
Bishop and thaumaturge
Born	1302, Florence
Died	January 6, 1374, Fiesole
Venerated in	Roman Catholic
Canonized	29 April 1629 by Pope Urban VI
Major shrine	Florence
Feast	February 4
Attributes	holding a cross, with a wolf and lamb at his feet, and floating above a battlefield on a cloud or a white palfrey
Patronage	Invoked against riots and civil disorder
Saints Portal

Saint Andrew (Andrea) Corsini (1302—January 6, 1373) was an Italian Carmelite and bishop of Fiesole.

[edit] Biography

He was born in Florence, in 1302, as member of the illustrious Corsini family. Wild and dissolute in youth, he was startled by the words of his mother about what had happened to her before his birth, and, becoming a Carmelite monk in his native city, began a life of great mortification. He studied at Paris and Avignon.

On his return, Andrew became the "Apostle of Florence". He was regarded as a prophet and a thaumaturgus. Called to the nearby episcopal see of Fiesole, he fled, but was discovered by a child, and compelled to accept the honour.

He redoubled his austerities as a bishop, was lavish in his care of the poor, and was sought for everywhere as a peacemaker, notably at Bologna, whither he was sent as papal legate to heal the breach between the nobility and the people.

After twelve years in the episcopacy, he died in 1373 at the age of seventy-one.

[edit] Veneration

In 1373, while he had been celebrating the midnight Mass of Christmas, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and told him he would leave this world on the feast of the Epiphany, to meet God. It came to pass, and he died on that day[1].

Miracles were so multiplied at his death that Pope Eugene IV permitted a public cult immediately; but it was only in 1629 that Urban VIII canonized him. His feast is kept on 4 February.

In the early eighteenth century, Pope Clement XII, born Lorenzo Corsini, erected in the Roman Basilica of St. John Lateran a magnificent chapel dedicated to his 14th century kinsman.