Nicolas of Flüe

Let me tell you of Saint Nicolas of Flüe

Nicolas of Flüe is our patron saint, of our Swiss guards in Vatican and World Peace.
We must always keep a warm place in our hearts for him. He is all that is good in our beloved Switzerland.

Let me tell you of Nicolas of Flüe

Nicolas was a wealthy peasant, heir to a great family of wealthy peasants, a proper Bürger as we say.
He loved deeply his wife and children.
He had a peaceful and enjoyable life.
When war was inevitable, he was a courageous soldier and recognised as such.

One day, he had a mystical vision: he saw a horse eating a lily.
He immediately understood that his worldly pursuits were swallowing up his spiritual life.
Nowadays, we would recognise that our worldly pursuits are eating away our children's future.

He thus asked permission from his beloved wife and adored children,
and left for the Ranft chine and became a hermit.
He then dedicated his days and nights to the pursuit of what is good, what is just, to enter in the wisdom of God.
He left us a very simple but deep prayer:

My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you.
My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you.
My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.

If you don't believe in God, or this God, just replace "My Lord and my God" by my children, my descendants, any person you naturally love, and you'll understand.

Legend has it that he lived 19 years without eating, only partaking to the Eucharist every day.
I don't know if it is true, but it is certainly symbolic of how detached from consumption he was.
Pure Love was enough for him to live a healthy life.

When the Confederate won the wars of Burgundy, our holy alliance fell apart.
No canton could agree on how to divide the plunder;
Should they or should they not welcome Fribourg and Solothurn.
Each Canton defended selfishly its interests.
There was going to be war, civil war. Imagine the disgrace!
Luckily for us, they agreed to disagree in the Diet of Stans.
They gathered, and then they argued. Insults flew.
It's been really shameful, not dissimilar from the COP circus we have to witness every year.
In a last ditch effort to save our beloved Confederation, someone had the idea to ask for advice from Nicolas of Flüe.

Nicolas sent a message, a secret and mysterious message.
No one knows, even today, what was in it.
A miracle was needed to save Switzerland, thus a miracle took place.
Unity and Concord were restored,
Fribourg and Solothurn where accepted,
our beloved Confederation saved.

If Saint Nicolas would forgive me, I believe he said something like this:

I left my beautiful farm, I left my sweet wife whom I love and my adored children,
so that one day you would listen to me.
All that divide you are fleeting mental illusions.
All your possessions are only distractions from the true happiness which is Love.
You are united by the natural love that all ancestors have for their descendants.
You are united by Switzerland, which is the home you will bequeath to your children.
You will have to sacrifice a lot, so as not to sacrifice your children.
But we all die, and we take nothing.
All that's left of us are the blessings of our descendants
who sing the praises of their brave and loving ancestors.

We owe Nicolas of Flüe our beloved Switzerland. He is what's best in our souls.

Thanks to Pope Paul II, Nicolas' hermitage became a sanctuary and a stage on Compostella's route.