St. Philip Benizi

Philip Benizi was born at Florence in 1233 into noble families and received a fine education, including medical study at Paris and Padua. As a gifted young man standing before a very open worldly future, he slowly turned toward discernment of what God wanted of him instead. Prayer before a crucifix and before an image of the Annunciation gradually drew him toward the Servites, then still a young order. When he entered, he asked not for honor but to be the servant of the Servants of Mary. That phrase sets the key for everything that follows. Philip wanted hiddenness. He entered first as a lay-brother, gave himself to humble labor, recollection, and prayer, and hoped to remain unnoticed. But his gifts could not remain hidden for long. Once they were recognized, he was advanced to holy orders and then, despite his protests, chosen prior general of the entire order.

From there the life moves in two steady lanes. One is internal: codifying the Servite rule, governing, visiting houses, strengthening discipline, and keeping brotherly love at the center. The other is external: preaching, attracting disciples, and repeatedly stepping into the violent civic divisions of Italy to reconcile enemies. His work among Guelf and Ghibelline factions is especially notable, along with the patience with which he endured insults and even blows while trying to make peace. The conversion of Peregrine Laziosi after striking him is preserved as a vivid sign of that meekness. Philip also had to bear honors he did not want, even fleeing when there seemed danger of his being chosen pope. Yet he remained steady in the work actually given him, helping the Servites expand without losing their interior seriousness. At the end his final exhortation gathers the whole life into one word: love one another. That was not a pious ornament. It was the law by which he had governed, preached, reconciled enemies, and suffered.