Blessed Conrad of Offida

Italian Franciscan, trusted by Brother Leo, on good terms with the Spiritual Franciscans, founded the Celestines but returned to the main branch of the Franciscans when a later pope suppressed the Celestines. Bl. Conrad died 12 December, 1306

Friar Minor

, b. at Offida, a little town in the

March of Ancona

, c. 1241; d. at Bastia in Umbria, 12 December, 1306. When barely fourteen years old he entered the

Order of Friars Minor

at

Ascoli

, and was making rapid progress in the study of

sacred sciences

, when an internal voice called him to humbler offices of the

religious life

. He therefore abandoned his studies with the consent of his superiors, and for many years was employed as cook and questor. His superiors subsequently had him

ordained

and sent him forth to preach. His impassioned sermons touched the hearts of the most hardened. Conrad modelled his life after that of his seraphic father, St. Francis. He was especially

zealous

for the observance of poverty. During his long

religious life

he always wore the same habit and always went barefoot, without sandals. The early legend declares that Conrad's

guardian angel

was the same that had formerly fulfilled this office for St. Francis, and that Blessed Giles came back to earth to teach him the mysteries of contemplation. When

Brother Leo

, the companion and confessor of St. Francis, was dying, he sent for Conrad and made him the depositary of his writings. Conrad was allied with Angelo Clareno and intimately united with John of La Penna,

John of Parma

, Peter of John Olivi, Peter of Monticello, and others of the "Spirituals". In 1294 he obtained permission from

Celestine V

to separate from the main body of the order and found the

Celestines

by whom the rule of St. Francis was observed in all its purity. When this congregation was suppressed by

Boniface VIII

, Conrad immediately returned under the authority of the superiors of the order. The letter written in 1295 by Peter of John Olivi to Blessed Conrad in which the legitimacy of

Boniface VIII's

election is defended, has been edited by Ignatius Jeiler (Historisches Jahrbuch, III, 649). During a course of missions he was giving at Bastia, he passed away at the age of about sixty-five years and was buried in that place. Fifty-six years later his remains were carried off by the

Perugians

and buried at San Francesco. They now repose beside those of Blessed Giles in the choir of the

cathedral

at

Perugia

.

Pius VII

in 1817 ratified the cultus of Blessed Conrad. His

feast

is kept in the

Order of Friars Minor

on 19 December.