COMMENTARY: A married layman and successful businessman, St. Homobonus showed how integrity at work and love of neighbor can lead to holiness.
Have you ever heard of St. Homobonus?
Omobono Tucenghi (also called “Homobonus,” which means “good man”) was a 12th-century tailor from the town of Cremona, on the bank of the Po River in northern Italy. He was a married layman who inherited a large estate from his father, a successful tailor and merchant. Homobonus was humble and generous, believing that God had permitted him to be successful in business so that he might donate a large proportion of his income to help the poor.
Homobonus and his wife lived simply, choosing modest accommodations and dress so that they could give most of their income to help people living in poverty. Homobonus also stepped in to pay for the funerals of persons who were abandoned or who had no means of covering funeral expenses.
Homobonus was devout, and attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion every day. On Nov. 13, 1197, he died while praying at Mass, lying prostrate on the floor with his arms spread out in the form of a cross.
Just 14 months later, at the urging of the townspeople of Cremona, Pope Innocent III canonized the kindly tailor. In the papal bull announcing the canonization, Pope Innocent called him “father of the poor,” “consoler of the afflicted,” “assiduous in constant prayer,” “a man of peace and peacemaker,” and “a man good in name and deed.”
“This saint,” said the Pope, “is still like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in our time.”
St. Homobonus is the patron saint of businesspeople, tailors and clothworkers, and shoemakers. He is also the patron of his native Cremona, and his body is preserved in a crypt in the Cremona Cathedral.
His feast is celebrated each year on Nov. 13.
