Aloisius Palazzolo
Italian presbyter (1827–1886)
Feast: 15 June (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 28 November 2019 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2019)
Who they were
Luigi Maria Palazzolo was born in Bergamo on 10 December 1827, the last of nine children, all of whom died before him. Ordained a priest, he gave his life to the poorest girls and boys of the city, opening an oratory for girls in a small house of his own.
After a retreat in Rome in which he felt called to radical poverty, remembering that Jesus died naked on the cross, he sold everything for the poor. He founded the Sisters of the Poor (Suore delle Poverelle) and the Brothers of the Holy Family, and died in Bergamo on 15 June 1886.
The miracles
A Sister of the Poor — Torre Boldone, near Bergamo, Italy — January 2016
A sister of his own congregation was admitted to hospital in November 2015 with severe abdominal pain: diverticular disease with a perforated bowel, abscesses, sepsis, multiple organ failure and septic shock. Her family took her home near death, and on the morning of 14 January 2016 her doctor stopped all treatment, expecting her to die. She, her sisters and many others were praying to Blessed Luigi. That night, called by the nurse, she answered clearly, drank a little water, and from then on recovered.
Two miracles were approved for his beatification by decree of 7 March 1963.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of a Sister of the Poor was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 28 November 2019, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 15 May 2022 by Francis.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography of St Luigi Maria Palazzolo, with the miracles
- CatholicPhilly / CNS, May 2022 - Pope to name 10 new saints
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q2650537 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Luigi Maria Palazzolo (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.