Archangelo of Calatafimi, Bl.
ARCHANGELO OF CALATAFIMI, BL.
Hermit, Franciscan observant, b. Archangelo Placenza, Calatafimi, Sicily, 1380; d. Alcamo, July 26, 1460. Desirous of a hermit's life, he sought solitude as a young man but his reputation for sanctity and the miracles attributed to him attracted many seeking advice. He fled to Alcamo where he revived and organized a hospice for the poor. When martin v required all hermits in Sicily to return to the world or to accept religious life in an approved order he became a Franciscan of the Observance at Palermo. He was sent back to the hospice at Alcamo to make it a house of his order, and later was made provincial of the Sicilian Observants. His cult was approved in 1836.
Feast: July 30
Bibliography: a. gioia, Il beato Arcangelo Placenza da Calatafimi (Palermo 1926). lÉon de clary, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis, 4 v. (Taunton, Eng. 1885–87) v.2. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York, 1956) 3:214–215.
[n. g. wolf]