Alfonso Maria Fusco
Italian priest and saint (1839–1910)
Feast: 6 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 26 April 2016 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2016)
Who they were
Alfonso Maria Fusco was born in Angri, near Salerno, on 23 March 1839, and ordained on 29 May 1863. He spent his life in Angri hearing confessions, preaching and teaching children and young people, and went with a band of missionary priests to preach in the countryside.
He founded the Sisters of St John the Baptist to care for poor children and orphans. He died in Angri on 6 February 1910; his last words to his sisters were: 'Love one another; I will remember you and pray for you always from heaven.'
The miracles
A little boy — Diocese of Ndola, Zambia — night of 2–3 February 1998
A small child with cerebral malaria lay in a prolonged coma with continuous seizures, pneumonia and blood poisoning, and the parasites persisted in his blood despite treatment. During the night of 2 to 3 February 1998 he was healed through Don Alfonso's intercession.
A Sister of St John the Baptist — Rome, Italy — 25 October 2009
A sister of his own congregation suffered a burst brain aneurysm with bleeding that flooded the ventricles of the brain and caused hydrocephalus. She recovered. On 25 February 2016 the Vatican's medical board found her healing scientifically inexplicable.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of a little boy was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 1 July 2000, opening the way to beatification. The case of a Sister of St John the Baptist was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 26 April 2016, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 16 October 2016 by Francis.
Connected on this site
- John the Baptist Saint“Alfonso Maria Fusco (23 March 1839 – 6 February 1910) was a Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Sisters of Saint John the Baptist – also known as the Baptistine Sisters.” — Wikipedia
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography of St Alfonso Maria Fusco, with both miracles
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q1440029 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Alfonso Maria Fusco (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.