Baring-Gould’s sources: Venerated in Majorca as the patron of that island, where his festival is observed with proper collect, epistle, and gospel, it is said, by permission of Pope Leo X. The process of his canonisation was begun at Rome, but was never completed. Authorities There are various lives of this remarkable man. The most important and authentic is one written from his own narration, and with his consent, whilst he was alive. A second life by Carlo Borillo Samarobrina, in 1511; this life contains the traditions and literary notices extant of the history of Lulli. Another life was written by Nicolas de Paxy in 1519.] Raymund Lulli was born of an illustrious family, in Majorca, in the year 1235. When that island was taken from the Saracens by James I., king of Aragon, in 1230, the father of Raymund, who was originally of Catalonia, settled there, and received a considerable appointment from the crown. Raymund married at an early age; and, being fond of pleasure, he left the seclusion of his native isle, and passed over with his bride into Spain. He was made grand seneschal at the court of King James, and for some years led a gay life. He was much addicted to music, and composed songs in honour of the various beauties who captivated his susceptible heart According to the life written with his consent during his lifetime, he was one evening sitting with his cithern on his knees, composing a song in praise of a noble married lady who had fascinated him, but who was insensible to his passion, when suddenly, on his right hand, he saw the Saviour hanging on His cross, the blood trickling from His hands, and feet, and brow, looking reproachfully at him. Raymund, consciencestruck, started up, laid aside his purpose, and retired to bed. Eight days after he again attempted to finish his song, and again, as before, the agonized form of the Man of Sorrows appeared, and the dying eyes of the Saviour were fixed on him mournfully, pleadingly. Again he cast his lute aside, ancl threw himself on his bed, a prey to remorse. A sermon preached by a Franciscan friar strengthened his conversion, and he set himself seriously to bring forth fruits of penitence. There is a fuller and more romantic version of the story of the conversion of Raymund Lulli, which may be true, but it is difficult to reconcile it with the certainly authentic account taken down from his own lips. At the same time, it is by no means improbable that Raymund left untold a circumstance which might cause pain to the relations and husband of the lady, if found in the mouths of every one. According to this second version, the beautiful lady was the Donna Ambrosia de Castello. She, like her admirer, was married; but, unlike him, was faithful to her vows, and treated all his solicitations with disdain. Raymund was so enamoured, that repulse only increased his flame. He pursued her with indecent irreverence, even into the house of God, and assailed her with his importunities in the midst of her prayers. One day, whilst watching under her lattice, the light breeze lifted her black mantilla, and disclosed her ivory throat and bosom. The fit of inspiration came over him, and he composed on the spot a tender chansonette on the fair bosom, a glimpse of which had been afforded him. Ambrosia sent her maid down to him, and bade him ascend to the room. “ You have sung the praises of my bosom,” jane 30.].S. Raymund. Lulli. 491 said she sadly; “ now behold that bosom you so admire !” and she displayed to him her breasts, consumed by a hideous cancer.
Then she extended her hand to him, and besought him to lead a better life, and set his affections on the Creator rather than on the creature.
He returned home confounded and troubled in soul. Then, in his chamber, Christ appeared to him, extended on His cross, and said, “ Raymund ! follow Me !” He became an altered man. He threw up his valuable appointment at court, and made a pilgrimage to Compostella. Then he laboured by prayer and fasting to discipline himself, and to discover his true vocation, in his home in the island of Majorca. It was not long before the conviction took hold of him that a great work was open to the Church to effect in the conversion of the Moors [the Muslims of North Africa and Spain] of Northern Africa, and he resolved to * devote himself to this work. First, he must acquire a knowledge of Arabic. He at once began to study it under a Moorish servant in his house, and with such success that he became able to read and speak Arabic with ease. One day his servant having uttered a horrible blasphemy against Christ, Raymund struck him on the mouth. The Moor determined on revenge, and stealing upon him, as Raymund sat reading in his room, struck at him from behind with a sword. Raymund, however, heard him, turned, and threw the man down, after having received a severe, though not a mortal, wound. He bound the man, and consigned him to prison, and then was in sore perplexity what to do with him. The fellow had been useful to him, in teaching him Arabic, and consequently Raymund did not wish to proceed to extremities with him, at the same time he could not re-admit him into his house. The ijr* |Ti Moor relieved him of his perplexity by strangling himself in jail.1 Raymund now retired for quiet meditation and study from the town to Mount Aranda, near his house, and there he conceived himself to be favoured with revelations. He composed a metaphysical treatise on the nature of God, which he hoped would be of use in solving the difficulties of the Mussulmans in understanding and receiving the doctrine of the Trinity. The king of Majorca sent for him to Montpellier, and had his doctrines investigated by a friar in whom he had confidence, and when the decision was satisfactory, the king dismissed him with respect. Raymund urged on the king to establish a college for the study of the Oriental languages, but he could only partially gain his point; all that he seems really to have effected was the partial endowment of a chair of Arabic, out of his own money, which, however, fell almost immediately into neglect. Then he went to Rome, and endeavoured to persuade the pope, Honorius IV., to embrace and encourage his scheme; but was met with chill indifference ' and harsh refusal. There can be little question that Raymund was in advance of his age; he saw, what others did not, the importance of a study of the Oriental tongues, and what a mine of literature such a study would open to Western students. From Rome, Raymund travelled to Paris, where he resided for some time, and made the acquaintance of the eminent chemist and alchymist, Arnold de Villeneuve. With him he studied, and was perhaps infected with the passion of chemists of the time to discover the secret of the philosopher’s stone. It is certain that he became a proficient in chemistry, 1 "Reddidit ergo Raymund us gratias Deo, ictus quod cum a perplcxitate ila gravi, pro qua paulo ante ipsum anxius exoravit, libcravcrat.** June s a J S. Raymund Lulli.
how far he dabbled in alchymy is uncertain. ' He is said to have been invited by Edward, king of England,1 to settle in his states. It is also related that Lulli gladly accepted the invitation, and had apartments assigned for his use in the Tower of London, where he refined much gold; superintended the coinage of “ rose-nobles,” and made gold out of iron, quicksilver, lead, and pewter. Edmund Dickenson, in his work on the 44 Quintessences of the Philosophers,” says that Raymund worked in Westminster Abbey, where, a long time after his departure, there was found in the cell which he had occupied, a great quantity of gold dust, of which the architects made great profit. John Cremer, abbot of Westminster, is said to have sought in vain for the philosopher’s stone, when he accidentally met Raymund in Italy, and endeavoured to induce him to communicate his grand secret. Raymund told him he must first find it for himself, as all great alchymists had done before him. Cremer on his return to England, spoke to Edward in high terms of the wonderful attainments of the philosopher, and a letter of invitation was forthwith sent him. Lulli himself, it is pretended, boasted that he made gold; for in his 44 Testamentum,” he states that he converted no less than fifty thousand pounds weight of quicksilver, lead, and pewter, into that metal.9 It is possible that the English king, believing in the extraordinary powers of the alchymist, invited him to England to make test of them, and that he employed him in refining gold and in coining.
But the evidence for Raymund Lulli having been in 1 Which Edward is not stated, but it must have been Edward II. 1 “ Convertl ana vice in aurum ad L millia pondo argent! vivi, plumb! ct stanni.** Lullii Tuttanuntum. But it is by no means certain that this is a geniune production of Raymund Lulli, for it gives as its date of composition 1330, whereas Raymund Lulli died in the year 13x3.
England is not satisfactory, and it is probable that the story of his alchymical labours there have originated in his having been mistaken for another Raymund, a Jew of Tarragona. It is certain that in his book “De Mirabilibus Orbis,” (lib. 6, cap. 39), he speaks of the delusion of alchymists in thinking that they can transform other metals into gold, and he says that what they produce is not gold, but a metal that has the look only of gold; and in another place he laughs at those who seek their fortune in the crucible, and in the conjunction of planets, “ Better a penny in the pocket, than a pound in the pot;”1 and in another work he ridicules the alchymists for pretending to make gold for others, and yet to be always out of cash and in rags themselves. The visit of Raymund to Paris took place in 1287. In 1289 he came to Montpellier. His chemical studies had not diverted his attention from the great object of his life. On the contrary, they had been undertaken with the purpose of furthering his cause. And now he saw that the great Military Orders had to some extent lost their former importance, and were content to enjoy their great possessions, and do nothing for the furtherance of the Gospel. He therefore endeavoured to persuade the pope to unite the Templars and Hospitalers into one order, and somewhat alter their constitution. His advice was not listened to. Had it been taken, it would have saved the Templars from destruction in 1312. In the same year, he went to Genoa, with the purpose of crossing over into Africa. There he laboured at translating some of his metaphysical treatises into Arabic, and then, furnished with everything necessary 1 It is perhaps worth while quoting another of his pithy sayings: ** The hammer docs not produce the nail, but drives it home. So the doctor does not create health for the patient, but establishes it and rivets it.” June 3o j S. RayMiincl LuLIL 495 for his missionary work, he awaited an opportunity of sailing. But, when the ship was ready, and his baggage had been conveyed on board, suddenly his courage failed; he foresaw martyrdom, and shrank from it, and the vessel sailed without him. He then felt shame at his cowardice, and his conscience smote him so incessantly that he fell sick, and had no rest till another vessel set off for Tunis, and in that he was conveyed to Africa. He was alone. Pope Celestine V. had sanctioned his expedition, but had shown such lukewarmness in supporting him, that no other persons were associated with him in his enterprise. Nor had the pope shown more sympathy with his proposal that the study of the Oriental languages should be introduced into all the monasteries of Europe.
On his arrival at Tunis, Raymund was cordially received by many Arabian philosophers, who had heard of his fame as a chemist and a metaphysician. If he had stuck to chemistry whilst in their country, it would have been well for him; but that was not the purpose for which he had come to Africa. He began to hold arguments with the philosophers, and even to preach Christ in the great bazaar of Tunis. Thereupon he was arrested and thrown into prison. He was shortly afterwards brought to trial, and sentenced to death. Some of his philosophic friends interceded hard for him, and he was pardoned upon condition that he left Africa immediately, and never set foot in it. If he was found there again, no matter what his object might be, or whatever length of time might intervene, his original sentence would be carried into execution. Then he was set in a boat bound for Naples, and so returned to Europe without having accomplished much by his expedition. On the death of Pope Celestine, Raymund hoping that his successor, Boniface VIII., would prove more zealous for advancing the study of the Eastern tongues, and the reformation and unification of the military Orders, went again to Rome (1294), but finding that he was listened to with indifference, he returned to Genoa, after two years vainly spent at Rome. Thence he went to Montpellier, where he visited the king of Majorca, and after a brief sojourn, went on to Paris, where he taught metaphysics, and wrote several books. He endeavoured, moreover, to move King Philip to take up the cause of missions to the Mussulmans, and the cultivation of the Oriental languages, in the University of Paris, and the monasteries and schools of France. But finding all his efforts unavailing, and perhaps perceiving that the unscrupulous monarch was meditating, not the reform, but the wholesale persecution and plunder of the Templars, Raymund abruptly left Paris, and betook himself to Majorca, to labour there for the conversion of the Moors who remained in the Balearic islands, after their conquest. But hearing rumours of a great Tartar invasion of the territories of the Sultan, and hoping that it might lead to a disruption of the Mussulman domination in the East, which would afford an opportunity to the Western princes to recover what had been lost to Christendom by the conquests of the Mussulmans, he departed to Cyprus to watch the course of events, accompanied by a chaplain and a servant. But finding that rumour had magnified the events in the East, and that the Ottoman power showed no signs of falling, he resolved to go into Egypt, and besought the king of Cyprus to send him there, that he might preach before the Sultan. His chaplain and servant, alarmed lest this scheme should be executed, combined Raymund Lulli to poison him; the drug failed to kill Raymund; as he discovered that he was being poisoned before he had emptied the glass in which it was given him. He gently rebuked the two men, and dismissed them from his service, then took ship, and travelled for a short while in Armenia. In 1303 he was again in Genoa, on his way to Paris. In 1304 he was in Montpellier, and again with James II., king of Aragon, who resided there. In 1305 he visited Clement V., at Lyons, hoping to move him to take up his favourite schemes, but apparently met with as little success as with Celestine V. and Boniface VIII. He then made a second attempt to prosecute his mission in Africa; having failed in all his attempts to found missionary schools in Europe to supply a constant stream of apostles for the Mussulmans, he felt that he must do all that could be done by himself alone. But on landing at Bona, in North Africa, he was taken and thrown into prison, and was only liberated at the intercession of the Genoese, who conveyed him back to Italy. In 1307 he was at Pisa, writing, endeavouring to move the Council then sitting there to unite and reform the two great military Orders, and combine them in an attack on the Saracens [medieval Christian name for Arab and Muslim peoples] for the recovery of the Holy Land. He offered a large sum, probably the proceeds of the sale of all his paternal inheritance in Majorca, to further the cause, but ineffectually. Then he visited the pope at Avignon, but was again disappointed in his hopes of getting the Holy Father to interest himself in his schemes. From Avignon he went to Paris, where he occupied himself with writing; but in 1310 he was again at Montpellier. The Council of Vienne assembled in October, 1311, and Raymund did not lose the opportunity of attending it, in the vain hope of prosecuting his cause. But the VOL. vi ^2 Council was occupied with other matters, and does not seem to have given him even a hearing. Accordingly he departed for Majorca, to prepare for another attempt in person to carry the glad news of the Gospel to the Moors.
It is difficult at first to see the reason for the indiffer ence with which the plans of Raymund were invariably received. But the reasons probably were, that the popes at this period were too much engaged with the concerns of the papacy at home, to be able to give attention to the extension of the Gospel among the pagans. The saintly Peter Coelestine, bewildered, stunned, by his sudden election from a hermit's cell among the mountains to the throne of S. Peter, could not attend to, probably could not understand, the plans of Raymund. Boniface VIII. was in full career of conflict with King Philip the Fair of France, hardly keeping his seat on a tottering throne, amidst a raging storm of party strife, which finally swept him away to Anagni, where he died miserably. Then came the captivity at Avignon, and Raymund could hardly hope to be heard by Clement V. in the midst of the excitement of his coronation. The close of the last century had seen Boniface VIII. advancing higher pretensions, if not wielding more actual power, than any former pontiff; the arbiter between the kings of France and England, claiming and exercising feudal, as well as spiritual supremacy over many kingdoms, bestowing crowns, as in Hungary, awarding the empire, and finally starving at Anagni. The first decade of the new century is not more than half passed; Pope Clement V. is a voluntary prisoner, but not the less a prisoner, in the realm, or almost within the precincts, of France; struggling in vain to escape from the tyranny of his June 3a] *S\ Raymund Lulli. 499 inexorable master, and to break or elude the fetters wound round him by his own solemn engagements. He is almost forced to condemn his predecessor for crimes of which he could hardly believe him guilty; to accept a niggardly, and perhaps never-furnished, pittance from men almost murderers of a pope; to sacrifice, on evidence which he himself manifestly mistrusted, one of the great military Orders of Christendom to the hatred or avarice of Philip. It was no time for thought to be turned to the conversion of the Mussulman by a systematic spiritual crusade. But it is probable also that Raymund was in advance of his time, that his philosophy, his metaphysics, were suspected and misunderstood by men who were active politicians, but who were not deep thinkers. Raymund saw that the Oriental understanding must be instructed, its prejudices must be met and reasoned away, and its subtle metaphysical difficulties must be metaphysically demolished, if the Eastern is to accept the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. He had been brought in contact with the Mussulman in Majorca, and his reading of Arabic philosophy had taught him how to grapple with the minds he sought to convince. But the popes whom he addressed, and it was the same with the rest of those whom he addressed, understood nothing of this. Raymund was despised as a visionary, and suspected of heretical tendencies.
Finding every attempt to interest Christendom in his cause wholly unsuccessful, the noble old man went forth, on his last mission to bear the Gospel to the Moors, and seal his work with his blood.
He landed at Bona in 1315, and sought out some of those to whom he had spoken before. Then he began to dispute and reason with them, and to show them his 500 Lives oj the Saints treatise on the Being of God, turned by him into Arabic. But when he began to speak of Christ as God, then there was a tumult, and he was swept by an angry multitude to the sea-shore, and was stoned and left for dead on the beach. He was found some hours after by a party of Genoese merchants, who conveyed him on board their vessel, and sailed towards Majorca. The unfortunate man still breathed, but could not articulate. He lingered in this state for some days, and expired just as the vessel arrived within sight of his native shores. His body was conveyed with great pomp to the church of S. Eulalia, at Palma, where a magnificent funeral was held.
The writings of Lulli were very numerous, and include nearly five hundred volumes, upon grammar, rhetoric, morals, theology, politics, civil and canon law, physics, metaphysics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry. But among those attributed to him, a large number are not by his pen; and the heretical propositions attributed to him are taken from works, which in all probability he never wrote, just as his complicity in the quackery of alchymy is maintained on the authority of his “ Testament,” which is a manifest forgery, as it was composed and dated within five years after his death. The body of the Blessed Raymund is preserved in a shrine in the cathedral at Palma, in Majorca. Raymund Lulli obtained from his writing the title of Doctor Illuminatus.
