This saint was freed from his cell by the Virgin Mary

Jesus once said to Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833): "Acquire inner peace and thousands of souls will find salvation with you". A hermit for some ten years, Seraphim relived the life of Jesus, spending most nights in prayer, standing on a rock. It was a long and difficult spiritual ascent, marked by apparitions of the Virgin Mary and demonic persecution. 

Knocked unconscious by a mob of drunken thieves, he was nursed back to health in his monastery, but had a hunched back for the rest of his life. An abbot, jealous of his fame, imprisoned him in his cell, but he was freed by the Virgin Mary on November 25, 1825. People flocked to hear his advice. 

Returning to the monastery crippled, Seraphim asked to be confined to a small cell, a universe whose only light was a candle next to an icon of the Mother of God. It is said that a nun once saw the Mother of God enter his cell and converse with him. 

Eventually, he opened the door of his cell to "pour out on others" the light that illuminated his spirit. His life, "mysterious and hidden in God until then", now burst forth in a great cry of Love for humanity. Priests, monks, nuns, emperors, all came to prostrate themselves before the holy starets, this "earthly angel" who called each of his visitors "my joy". They all came to him for physical healing and inner enlightenment. 

Seraphim founded several monasteries and composed a rule of daily prayer. "The goal of the Christian life is the acquisition of God's Holy Spirit. And this grace is granted to all who practice heartfelt prayer and undertake, in Christ's name, actions of Love." "The power of prayer is prodigious, for, stronger than anything that exists, it is prayer that brings down the Holy Spirit" (St. Seraphim of Sarov).

The Mary of Nazareth editorial staff

Adapted and translated from Marian Encyclopedia