First as Prior Provincial of Lombardy and then as Master General of the Order, Raymond undertook the restoration of Dominican religious life.

The important mystic and author, Catherine of Siena, accepted him as a spiritual director because of his burning passion for the Church and for the revival of religious life.

By 1374 Raymond had come to the attention of Pope Gregory XI, then living in Avignon, as a result of his connection to Catherine, and also for his novel ways of confronting issues like the Crusades in the Holy Land, the return of the papacy to Rome, and the general reform of the Church.

He was well known for his ability to pass seamlessly from dealing with spiritual and supernatural considerations to the more mundane matters of practical politics.

For four years Raymond accompanied Catherine in her journeys, and went to Avignon to act as an intermediary between her and the pope.

Catherine had such faith in the commitment of the pope to the cause of a Crusade, that she sent a personal letter to the infamous English pirate, John Hawkwood, asking him to re-direct his efforts to the service of God in this cause.

Raymond was buried first in Nuremberg (now Germany), where he died, but his body was later moved to Naples, to the Church of San Domenico Maggiore.