Bernardine of Feltre

Who they were

Bernardine Tomitano, eldest of nine children of a noble family of Feltre, was moved by the preaching of St James of the Marches to join the Franciscans in 1456, and was ordained in 1463.

Cured miraculously of a speech impediment, he became one of the greatest Franciscan missionaries of his century, preaching from Lombardy to Sardinia. He is best remembered for the monti di pietà, charitable lending-houses that protected the poor from usurers, which he reorganised and in a sense founded. He died at Pavia on 28 September 1494.

The miracles

He is honoured as Blessed by long-standing veneration; the Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe a formal cause.

Why that counted as sanctity

A friar-preacher who fought usury by founding lending-houses for the poor.

Connected on this site

• James of the Marches Saint
  “Bernardine Tomitano, eldest of nine children of a noble family of Feltre, was moved by the preaching of St James of the Marches to join the Franciscans in 1456, and was ordained in 1463.” — this site's research
• Baldassarre Ravaschieri Blessed
  “Ravaschieri served as a noted preacher and confessor and befriended as contemporaries Bernardine of Feltre and architect Giovanni Antonio Amadeo.” — Wikipedia
• Michele Carcano Blessed
  “He is remembered in connection with the monti di pietà of which he was the reorganizer and, in a certain sense, the founder, together with Michele Carcano.” — Wikipedia