Nicola Saggio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Longobardi, Calabria, Italy
Rome, Lazio, Papal States
Nicola Saggio | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Religious | |
| Born | 6 January 1650 Longobardi, Calabria, Italy |
| Died | 3 February 1709 (aged 59) Rome, Lazio, Papal States |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 17 September 1786, Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States by Pope Pius VI |
| Canonized | 23 November 2014, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Francis |
| Feast | 2 February |
| Attributes | |
| Patronage | Longobardi |
Nicola Saggio was an Italian Roman Catholic professed oblate of the Order of Minims.
He was beatified on 17 September 1786 and was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on 23 November 2014.[1]
Nicola Saggio was born on 6 January 1650 in Longobardi, a small town on the Tyrrhenian coast. His parents were Fulvio Saggio, a farmer, and Aurelia Saggio née Pizzini. He was the first of five children. He was baptized "Giovanni Battista Clemente"[2] on 10 January 1650.
His parents raised him with high moral and spiritual values. He worked in the fields, his parents not having the means to pay for his studies. Giovanni visited the convent of the Minims which made him desire the religious life as his path in life. Despite his parents' opposition, he joined the Franciscan Minims at the Paola monastery, taking the name "Nicolas".[3]
He served at San Marco Argentano, Montalto and Cosenza, before being recalled to Paola to be secretary to the provincial. In 1681 he was sent to San Francesco di Paola ai Monti in Rome to assist the parish priest and act as doorkeeper.[4]
A further change in his spiritual life was recorded in 1683 after a pilgrimage on foot to Loreto to ask God – through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary – for the liberation of Vienna from the Turks.[5] He returned to Longobardi in 1694.
He died of pleurisy in Rome 3 February 1709.[6]
