St. Nunzio Sulprizio, Young Worker of Naples

Who was St. Nunzio Sulprizio?

St. Nunzio Sulprizio was a poor boy from the mountains of the Abruzzo who lost everyone he loved, worked at a forge beyond his strength, and became very ill while still a child. He died in Naples in 1836, only 19 years old. In those few years he learned to pray, to forgive and to serve the other sick, and the Church now honors him as a saint.

Pope Francis canonized him on October 14, 2018, during the synod on young people. In his homily the pope called him "our Abruzzese-Neapolitan young man, Nunzio Sulprizio: the saintly, courageous, humble young man who encountered Jesus in his suffering, in silence and in the offering of himself."

The life of St. Nunzio Sulprizio

An orphan of the Abruzzo

Nunzio was born on April 13, 1817, at Pescosansonesco, a hill village in the province of Pescara. His father died when he was three and his mother a few years later. His grandmother, Anna Rosaria Luciani, took him in. When she died in 1826, the nine-year-old was handed over to his mother's brother, a blacksmith named Domenico Luciani.

The forge

His uncle used him as cheap labor. The accounts collected on Santi e Beati describe long days at the bellows and the anvil, heavy loads carried in all weather, little food and frequent beatings. Nunzio did not run away. He worked, kept silent and prayed.

Around 1831 his leg became infected after an errand in the cold. The illness was later described as a disease of the bone; an ulcer opened on his foot and would not heal. Santi e Beati tells that the village women would not let him wash the sore at the public fountain, so he went to a spring at Riparossa, outside the village, and washed it there.

The hospitals of Naples

He was taken to the hospital at L'Aquila and then, in 1832, to the Hospital of the Incurables in Naples. There his life turned. An uncle who served in the army introduced him to Colonel Felice Wochinger, a devout officer who came to love him like a son and paid for his care. Nunzio could now go to Mass, receive Communion and pray before the tabernacle as often as he wished.

He did not keep this to himself. In the wards he taught the catechism to the boys, comforted the dying and helped the nurses. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints notes his prayer, his charity toward the sick and his love for the Eucharist and for the Virgin Mary. The priest St. Gaetano Errico, who was then founding the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts, met him and said, "Questo è un giovane santo" ("This is a holy young man"), and promised to receive him into his congregation when his health allowed.

Death at nineteen

From 1834 he lived with Colonel Wochinger in his quarters in the Maschio Angioino, the old royal castle of Naples. His illness grew worse, and in early 1836 it became clear that he was dying. Paolo Risso's biography records that he told his benefactor, "Be cheerful; from heaven I will always help you," and that toward evening on May 5 he said, "Our Lady, Our Lady, see how beautiful she is!" He died that day.

The road to sainthood

On July 21, 1891, Pope Leo XIII declared his virtues heroic, compared him to St. Aloysius Gonzaga and set him before the working youth of his day as a model. Pope Paul VI beatified him on December 1, 1963, after two healings were approved.

The miracle for his canonization is approved. According to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, whose diocesan inquiry was held in Taranto in 2015, a young man fell into a coma and a vegetative state after a serious motorcycle accident in 2004 and recovered in a way the medical board judged scientifically unexplained on March 22, 2018. The cardinals and bishops recognized it as a miracle on June 5, 2018.

Why St. Nunzio Sulprizio is a patron saint

Leo XIII made him a model for young workers, and that is still the heart of his patronage. Young people who work hard for little pay, apprentices, and blacksmiths and metalworkers who share his trade ask his help. Because he lived most of his short life in pain and walked on crutches, the sick and people with disabilities also take him as their friend. See more on our patron saints page.

Symbols of St. Nunzio Sulprizio in art

Nunzio is a modern saint, and his images are simple devotional ones.

• Hammer and anvil: his years at the forge.
• Crutch or walking stick: the diseased leg he carried for five years.
• Crucifix and rosary: the prayer that carried him through.
• Plain coat: he is shown as a poor young layman, never in clerical dress.

In San Domenico Soriano the figure in his urn is dressed in a dark coat, as he would have gone about Naples.

Feast day and shrines

We keep his feast on May 5, the day he died. His body was first laid in the castle's palatine chapel of Santa Barbara, then moved several times, and now rests under the high altar of San Domenico Soriano in Naples. Other relics are kept at the sanctuary in Pescosansonesco. See other saints of the season on our feast days page.

Prayer to St. Nunzio Sulprizio

No single traditional prayer to him is in wide use. Let us simply ask him: St. Nunzio Sulprizio, pray for young people who are worn out by work, for the sick who suffer in silence, and for all who feel that no one wants them. Help us to find Jesus, as you did, in the cross we carry.