Saint Nunzio Sulprizio – 5 May – Saint Of The Day In Sacred Art
Saint Nunzio Sulprizio. An Italian teenager who died at the age of 19 from bone cancer. Canonized in 2018.
Nunzio Sulprizio (1817–1836) was a young man from Italy, who suffered from poor health during the last five years of his life. His life was full of suffering and pain.
Nunzio was orphaned very early in life, and he was raised by his grandmother. Very early he had to start working as a blacksmith and got very sick because of the hard work. When he was 17 he moved to Naples to his uncle who helped him medical treatment but the uncle also died soon.
Nunzio’s health became weaker and weaker but still he did not give up hope of joining a religious order. And he continued working. Finally he was sent to a Hospital for Incurable. But his desire to enter the religious life remained. During the two years in the hospital he would pray and teach the children the catechism.
“Always be with the Lord, because from Him comes all that is good. Suffer for the love of God and with joy… I would die to convert even one sinner” – Saint Nunzio Sulprizio
Then Nunzio was diagnosed with the bone cancer. His leg was amputated. Short after that he died. Nunzio Sulprizio was 19 years old.
For Nunzio’s beatification two miracles were investigated and found reliable. One miracle was investigated for his canonization. That miracle concerned a man who was injured in a motorbike accident and who fell into a coma. At the request of that man’s relatives, one relic of Nunzio was placed in a hospital room of the man. A week later his parents were told that he had awakened from his coma and was not anymore in a vegetative state as was believed.
In visual arts the symbols of Saint Nunzio Sulprizio are a rosary, the crutches, a book, a crucifix and the clothes of a young blacksmith worker.
