Philip Benizi de Damiani
General Superior of the Order of the Servites
Feast: 23 August (1962 Missal, III class) · not on the current Roman calendar
Who they were
Philip Benizi was elected general of the Servants of Mary, the Servites, on 5 June 1267, just as the order entered the gravest crisis of its existence. The Second Council of Lyon in 1274 suppressed mendicant orders not yet approved by the Holy See, and in 1276 Innocent V declared the Servites suppressed. Philip went to Rome to defend them, and John XXI decided that the order should continue.
The miracles
The miracles examined for his canonisation are not described in the sources we have used.
Why that counted as sanctity
Philip Benizi saved the Servite Order from extinction through his patient perseverance and trust in the Church.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Order of Servites
- Wikidata Q141900 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Philip Benizi de Damiani (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.