During the Synod of bishops on youth Pope Francis will canonize on October 19 seven new saints. Besides Pope Paul VI and the assassinated Archbishop Romero, he will also canonize a 19 years old teenager-worker.
Nuntius Sulprizio (also known as Nunzio Sulperio) was born on April 13, 1817 at Pescara, Italy. When Nuntius was only three years old, his father Domenico Sulprizio passed away on May 16, 1820. After two years his only younger sister too died. Since his widowed young mother Rosa was finding it difficult to meet her ends meet, she got married to a much older man. It was a time of great famine and she had no other support.
Nuntius went along with her. He went to a local school run by a priest, Fr De Fabiis. Besides learning the school subjects, the boy also learned little faith. He became a pious boy, attending Mass every day and prayed to Our Lady.
The man always considered his step-son an unwanted burden and treated him badly. So Nuntius’ maternal uncle Domenico Luciani brought the boy to his house. This man, a blacksmith by profession, was worse than the step-father. He made the little boy to do all sorts of manual works, giving him very little to eat, not sending him to the school and no time to play with his friends. Finding always fault with the boy, the man always abused him and thrashed him.
During the work Nuntius foot got infected. Since his uncle would not care for him, but forced him to do more works, the wound became gangrenous. Unable to bear the pain, he would often cool his leg in the village stream. Praying the rosary, he would ask Mother Mary to cure him. The ladies, who came there for washing, would chase him yelling that he had polluted the water. The puss-oozing sore caused him intense pain.
Hearing his nephew’s plight, his paternal uncle Francesco Sulprizio, a soldier, took him to his house. He introduced the boy to his friend, Colonel Felice Wochinger. The colonel was a very kind-hearted man and he took care of the boy as if he was his own son.
He admitted the boy in a hospital. A priest used to frequent the hospital to distribute the Holy Communion to the sick. Hearing that Nuntius had not yet received the First Holy Communion, the priest instructed the boy and gave him the First Holy Communion.
The boy also met St Gaetano Errico, an Italian priest and founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, who promised him he could enter their Religious Order when he was old enough.
As that holy priest had instructed him, Nuntius would offer all his pains to the crucified Christ. Nuntius said, “It was God’s providence that cared my life,” and would say, “Jesus endured so much for us. If we suffer a little bit, we will taste the joy of paradise.” And he said, “Jesus suffered a lot for me. Why should I not suffer for Him?”
His leg was amputated, but it did not help him. The 19 years old teenager finally succumbed to his injuries on May 5, 1836.
After his death, his saintly qualities were talked about. Everyone admired the poor boy’s patient suffering, both physically and mentally. He was known as a gentle, chaste, patient and pious youth in a place and at a time when such a man was rare. There never was time when Nunzio’s life was not difficult.
The great Pope Leo XIII declared him a venerable on July 21, 1891. And he proposed that he too could be a patron for workers. Nunzio became one of the first to be beatified by Pope Paul VI before all the world’s bishops during a session of the Second Vatican Council on December 1, 1963.
Paul VI remarked then that Blessed Nunzio Sulprizio teaches us, “The period of youth should not be considered the age of free passions, of inevitable falls, of invincible crises, of decadent pessimism, of harmful selfishness. Rather, he will tell you how being young is a grace…”
The Pope told the youth, “He will tell you that no other age than yours, young people, is as suitable for great ideals, for generous heroism, for coherent demands of thought and action.” He continued, “He will teach you how you, young people, can regenerate the world in which Providence has called you to live, and how it is up to you first to consecrate yourselves for the salvation of a society that needs strong and fearless souls.”
A medal of Bl. Nuntius that was kept in the room of a man lying on coma for days after a fatal bike accident brought him cure within a week of intense prayers through the saint. This miracle had been approved for his canonization.
Pope Francis will canonize that poor labourer boy and Pope Paul VI during the Synod of bishops on Oct. 19. His feast day will be celebrated every year on May 5.
Fr F.M. Britto
Catholic Church, Parsahi (Bana) Pandaria P.O, Akaltara Via Janjgir – Champa Dt, Chhattisgarh-495 552
