Benincasa da Montepulciano

Last updated

Benincasa da Montepulciano

Religious
Born1375
Montepulciano, Siena, Republic of Siena
Died9 May 1426 (aged 51)
Monticchiello, Siena, Republic of Siena
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified 23 December 1829, Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States by Pope Pius VIII
Canonized 23 June 1830
Feast
Attributes
Patronage Montepulciano

Benincasa da Montepulciano (1375 - 9 May 1426) was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious from the Servite Order. [1] He lived as a hermit in Siena his entire life since he joined the order as a teenager and dedicated himself to a quiet life of servitude to God in contemplation despite still receiving visitors and orders from his superiors. [2]

Contents

His beatification received formal confirmation on 23 December 1829 once Pope Pius VIII issued formal approval to the late friar's enduring and local 'cultus' - or popular veneration.

Life

Benincasa da Montepulciano was born in 1375 in the Republic of Siena in the small town of Montepulciano.

He became a professed members of the Servite Order as a teenager and in 1400 he became a hermit in a small cell that he fashioned on Monte Amiata near Siena and spent his life there feeding on the food that visitors brought to him as well as practicing exorcisms on occasion. [1] He lived at the Bagni San Filippo where Saint Philip Benizi once lived as a penitent. [2] Around the time he turned 50 his superiors from the Servites asked him to move their convent into the town of Monticchiello where he spent his final months.

Benicasa died in mid-1426 after spending his final months at the relocated convent in Monticchiello. His remains were interred - after several transferrals - to the Monticchiello church of Saint Martin though no trace of his remains now remain. The townspeople - in his honor - constructed in 1494 a convent for the Servites adjacent to the said church. [2]

Beatification

The beatification process opened in 1822 under Pope Pius VII and another process opened in 1829. [2] His beatification received formal approval from Pope Pius VIII on 23 December 1829 after the pontiff issued formal ratification to the late friar's local 'cultus' - otherwise known as popular and enduring veneration.

Related Research Articles

Giovanni Battista Righi was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor. He was known for ascetic life and for his preaching and healing abilities.

Szymon of Lipnica

Szymon of Lipnica was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor. He became a sought after and noted preacher and took as his preaching inspiration Saint Bernardine of Siena and also was a strong proponent of popular devotions that he worked to spread.

Jakub Strzemię

Jakub Strzemię was a Polish Roman Catholic archbishop and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor. He served as the Archbishop of Halicz from 1392 until his death when the archdiocese was incorporated into that of the Archdiocese of Lviv.

Baldassare Ravaschieri was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor of the strict observance. Ravaschieri served as a noted preacher and confessor and befriended as contemporaries Blessed Bernardine of Feltre and architect Giovanni Antonio Amadeo.

Ugolino da Gualdo Cattaneo was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and friar of the Order of Saint Augustine. Ugolino is best known for founding an Augustinian convent in Gualdo Cattaneo in 1258 where he served as its prior until his death. He practiced a rigorous spiritual life with austerities including frequent bouts of strict silence and fasting.

Francesco Lippi

Francesco Lippi was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious from the Carmelites. He lived his life as a soldier before suffering the loss of sight at which point his healing led him down the path of repentance and into the Carmelites.

Elisabetta Picenardi was an Italian Roman Catholic professed member of the Servite Order in its third order branch. Picenardi was born in Mantua into a noble family and, despite pressure to wed a nobleman, insisted instead on pursuing the religious path alongside her sister.

Antonio Patrizi

Antonio Patrizi was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Saint Augustine. Patrizi joined the order in Lecceto and lived as a hermit prior to his sudden death while visiting his friend at another convent.

Giacomo Bianconi was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Preachers. Bianconi - who hailed from Umbria - joined the order in his adolescence and dedicated his pastoral career to his flock and on one notable occasion aided refugees when Frederick II sacked the area in 1248. He also combatted heresies and managed to convert one of their chief propagators while also distinguishing himself through his life of extreme poorness that went past the Dominican standards.

Giovannangelo Porro

Giovannangelo Porro was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and hermit who hailed from the Milanese region and was a professed member of the Servites. Porro was born to nobles and became a priest after the death of his father. He remained a hermit in convents in places such as Florence and Milan where he dedicated his life to inward meditation and self-mortification until his death.

Elena Valentinis was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious from the tertiaries of the Order of Saint Augustine. Valentinis was born to nobles and married a knight during her adolescence while mothering six children before she was widowed in 1441. She soon became a professed religious and dedicated herself to austerities and a life of complete penance.

Giovanni da Penna was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor. He became a Franciscan in 1213 after hearing Fra Filippo - one of the disciples of Francis of Assisi - preach. He spent over two decades in France where he oversaw the establishment of Franciscan houses before returning to the Italian peninsula where he served his life in quiet cloistered retirement.

Antonio da Stroncone was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious from the Order of Friars Minor. He became a member of that order in his late childhood after cultivating a strong devotion to Francis of Assisi during his childhood with his parents who were also Franciscans.

Gregorio Celli was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Saint Augustine. Celli lived with the latter order in Rimini until he decided to spend the remainder of his life in deep contemplation and so moved to the region's hills where he dwelled in a cave near the Franciscans stationed there. It is claimed he was expelled from his order and became a Franciscan though there is no evidence to support this claim.

Nicola da Forca Palena was an Italian Roman Catholic professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis and the co-founder of the Poor Hermits of Saint Jerome - founded alongside Blessed Pietro Gambacorta. He established the Sant'Onofrio church in Rome where he was later buried. He became a friend to both Pope Eugene IV and Pope Nicholas V.

Andrea dei Conti was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor who was also a member of the noble house of Conti di Segni. The priest was best known for his humble life of solitude in which he was subjected to demonic visions and attacks though his faith in God saw him emerge time and time again as the victor. He lived his life in a small grotto in the Apennines.

Bonaventura Tornielli was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Servite Order. Tornielli was born into a noble household and was a noted preacher in which he visited numerous Italian cities such as Florence and Perugia - Pope Sixtus IV held him in high esteem and even named him the "Apostolic Preacher". He also held various positions of leadership within his order.

Antonio Pavoni was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Preachers. He served as an inquisitor-general for Pope Urban V in combatting Waldensians in the Lombard region but the Waldensians succeeded in killing him in an ambush as he presided over a sermon just after Easter in 1374.

André Abellon, O.P. was a French Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Preachers. He became a Dominican after hearing the preaching of Vincent Ferrer and studied art before joining their ranks. Abellon gained fame as a noted preacher and confessor but became a prominent figure after tending to victims of the plague in Aix-en-Provence in 1445. He was also a noted artist and painter with some of his works still surviving at present.

Gerardo Cagnoli was an Italian Roman Catholic and professed religious from the Order of Friars Minor. He embarked on a long pilgrimage south where he passed through Rome and Naples before settling in Trapani and then on the slopes of Mount Etna for a long hermitage. He later entered the Franciscans and served in two of their Sicilian convents where he was known for having caused miracles in addition to his humble and simple childlike nature which people believed was one of the signs of his holiness.

References

  1. 1 2 "Blessed Benincasa of Montepulciano". Saints SQPN. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Blessed Benincasa of Montepulciano". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 19 August 2016.