Saint Raymond de Penyafort, born in Vilafranca del Penedès, near Barcelona, around 1175, and died in 1275, was a friar preacher (Dominican).

 He is best known for having collected, at the request of Gregory IX, the multiple laws and decrees of the Church by systematizing them. This canonical codification, the first officially promulgated by a pope, is known as the Decrees of Gregory IX (1234). Canonized in 1601 by Clement VIII, it is liturgically commemorated on 7 January.

He studied at the University of Barcelona and then went to the University of Bologna to perfect his law studies, where he was awarded a doctorate in utroque jure. From 1195 to 1210 he taught canon law. In 1210, he left to teach in Bologna, where he remained until 1222, occupying the chair of canon law for three years. On his return to Barcelona in 1222, he entered the Order of Friars Preachers.

He is the confessor of the King of Aragon, James I. Contacted by Pierre Nolasque, he obtained the king's support for the foundation in 1218 of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the redemption of Christians kidnapped by the Muslims.

In 1230, he was called to Rome by Pope Gregory IX, who charged him with the task of gathering together and harmonising the decisions taken by the popes over the past century1. 1 He brought together the Decretales Gregorii, promulgated by the Bull "Rex pacificus" (5 September 1234), the first official collection of ecclesiastical law. This collection continues and completes the compilation known as the Gratian Decree of 1150.

On his return to Barcelona, he was elected Master General of the Dominicans by the General Chapter of the Order meeting in Bologna at Pentecost 1238. He published the Constitutions of the Order which remained in force until 1924. He resigned from his office in 1240.

In 1242 he edited the first manual of the Inquisition. To train missionaries, he founded the Arab school in Tunis (1245) and the Hebrew school in Murcia (1266).

He died on January 6, 1275. From the end of the 13th century, then under John XXII, there is talk of canonizing him, which will be achieved by Clement VIII in 1601, after several unsuccessful attempts.

He is best known for having collected, at the request of Gregory IX, the multiple laws and decrees of the Church by systematizing them. This canonical codification, the first officially promulgated by a pope, is known as the Decrees of Gregory IX (1234). Canonized in 1601 by Clement VIII, it is liturgically commemorated on 7 January.