Saint Giles Mary-of-Saint-Joseph
![[Saint Giles Mary of Saint Joseph]](saintg1w.jpg "54kb jpg detail of a portrait of Saint Giles, date unknown, artist unknown; swiped off the Vatican web site; if you have information about this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
-
Aegidius Mary of Saint Joseph Pontillo;
Egidio Maria de Saint Giuseppe;
Francis Pontillo;
Saint of the Little Way
- Memorial
- 7 February
- Profile
- Born to a pious family and raised in a small village.
Rope maker by trade.
Drawn to a religious life, he applied to the Discalced Friars Minor of Saint Peter of Alcantara at Naples, Italy in 1754 at age 25.
He wished to become a priest, but lacked the education, and was received as a lay brother.
Porter and gate-keeper at his monastery's seminary, a position that put him in constant contact with those in need.
Had a special ministry to the sick, and worked with lepers, travelling outside the city to help those who had become shunned and isolated.
Even in life he was considered by locals as a saint and patron of the sick and outcast.
Legend says that when he was charged with distributing food and alms to the poor, Saint Joseph would intervene to insure he never ran out.
- Born
- 16 November 1729 at Taranto, Apulia, Italy as Francis Pontillo
- Died
- 7 February 1812 at Naples, Italy of natural causes while at prayer;
huge crowds turned out for his funeral
- Beatified
- 1888 by Pope Leo XIII
- Canonized
- 2 June 1996 by Pope John Paul II
- Print References
- John Paul II's Book of Saints
- Translate
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