Nunzio Sulprizio
Italian artisan (1817-1836)
Feast: 5 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 8 June 2018 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2018)
Who they were
Nunzio Sulprizio was born on 13 April 1817 at Pescosansonesco, in the Abruzzo, the only child of a shoemaker and a spinner. His father died when he was three and his grandmother when he was nine, and he was taken in by an uncle, a harsh, heavy-drinking blacksmith, who took him out of school and worked him as a drudge in his forge. A festering wound formed on his left foot.
A colonel in Naples took pity on him and brought him there, where he felt called to the priesthood; but the bone disease grew worse. Poor and in great pain, he looked after everyone around him with a smile. He died in Naples on 5 May 1836, aged 19.
The miracles
A young man — Taranto, Italy — 2004
A young man crashed a powerful motorbike and suffered multiple injuries, including a severe head injury; he fell into a coma and then a vegetative state. He recovered through Blessed Nunzio's intercession, and the cardinals recognised the healing as a true miracle on 5 June 2018.
Two miracles were approved for his beatification by decree of John XXIII on 7 March 1963, and Paul VI beatified him on 1 December 1963.
Why that counted as sanctity
Beatification followed on 1 December 1963 by Paul VI. The case of a young man was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 8 June 2018, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 14 October 2018 by Francis.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography of St Nunzio Sulprizio, with the miracles
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q2111951 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Nunzio Sulprizio (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.