by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Seven hundred years ago, on March 14, a brave Catholic Friar of the Sovereign and Royal Order of Our Lady of Mercy, was stoned to death by the Muslims of North Africa.

His name was Tommaso of Vives, and you can see his portrait above in the Featured Image of this article. The Original is kept in the City of Cagliari, Sardinia.

This French Friar was arrested by the Moors after having gone on a Mission to preach the Holy Name of Jesus and seek their conversion. He was imprisoned for 5 years in Tunisia, ostensibly because they sought to ransom him back for money.

The Muslims had accused him of “blasphemy” of the name of their prophet.

As he died, Saint Thomas was given a vision of heavenly glory.

He died on Wednesday, March 14, 1324 A. D., 700 years ago.

And on his feast day he worked a miracle for Save Old St. Mary’s Inc., which because of a legal mix-up, was at risk of losing its tax exempt status in US law, until the very day of his 700th Anniversary.

You see, under President Donald Trump the tax laws were modified for US Non profits. Before they filed their annual reports by surface mail, on paper forms; but with the change they had to file them electronically.

However, due to the novelty of the law neither the IRS nor accountants in the USA were prepared to file or receive these notices electronically. That meant for many U. S. non profits, that when they filed their returns, their returns were send back to them by the IRS for non compliance with the new regulation.

For 3 years after the new law was passed, Save Old St. Mary’s continued to file its return on paper, since it could not find an agency to file electronically. So in February of 2023, the IRS suspended its tax-exempt status, without explaining how to regain the status.

So after a year of legal research and a lot of paperwork, the IRS reinstated Save Old St. Mary’s Inc. retro-actively,* non profit status as a 501(c)(3) Private Foundation, on March 14, 2024.

Thank you Bl. Tommaso. What an honor that you gave us this gift on the 7th Centenary of your Martyrdom!

I think he worked this miracle because the non profit was founded on Nov. 20, 2004, the Feast Day of St. Felix of Valois, who is the co-founder of the Trinitarian Order, another order dedicated to rescuing Catholics kidnapped by Muslims.

Save Old St. Mary’s Inc., is the non profit which assists the readers of FromRome.Info make donations to my apostolate and apostolic works. Donations to this 501(c)(3) may be deductible in the USA; see sites like this one, for more information about how to qualify, when donation more than $250 USD.

Here is a holy card For Blessed Tommaso, who is considered a Saint by his order:

An interesting side note is this, that the Mercedarian Order, to which Bl. Tommaso belonged, was co-founded by Saint Raymond Penyafort, O. P., the patron of Canon Lawyers, who died on January 6th, the same day as Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral.

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* Retro-actively here means that the accusation by the IRS of non compliance is wiped from the record, and all donations by supporters in the last 3 years retain their ability to be tax-deductible.