BLESSED GIACOMO CUSMANO

Bl. Giacomo Cusmano

Feast day: March 14
Birth: 1834
Death: 1888
Beatified By: 30 October 1983 by Pope John Paul II

Giacomo Cusmano (March 15,1834 - March 14, 1888) - was a parish priest in archdiocese of Palermo, Italy. Giacomo also help found the Missionary Servants of the Poor and Sisters Servants of the Poor.



Physician, priest, founder of the Servants of the Poor and the Congregation of the Missionary Servants of the Poor (MSP); b. March 15, 1834, Palermo, Italy; d. there, March 14, 1888. Giacomo in English, Jacob or James was born into a bourgeois family. Following the death of his mother, Maddalena Patti, in 1837, her older sister Vincenzina Patti cared for the Cusmano children. His pious aunt instilled in Giacomo the sense of charity for which he became known, and his Jesuit teachers at Palermo reinforced this virtue. Although he contemplated becoming a missionary, he studied and practiced medicine at Palermo, offering his services to the poor free of charge. Under the spiritual direction of Monsignor Turano, he followed his vocation to the priesthood and was ordained (Dec. 22, 1860. Cusmano used his wealth to buy land, buildings, and factories to provide employment, housing, and training. With the blessing of Archbishop Naselli and the approval of Pope Pius IX, Cusmano founded Aug. 5, 1868 the first Boccone del Povero ("Morsels of the Poor"), which spread throughout Sicily to provide for orphans, the aged, and the sick. He also founded two congregations to serve these people. The first Servants of the Poor brothers received their habit on Oct. 4, 1884; the Missionary Servants, Nov. 21, 1887. When the first Sister Servants were veiled May 23, 1880, his aunt Vincenzina Patti was appointed superior. After exhausting his own resources, he begged in the streets of Palermo and relied on God to provide the rest. Many miracles are attributed to his intercession. He is noted for his courage in working among the impoverished during a cholera epidemic in 1888, which led to his death at age 54. Cusmano was beatified by John Paul II, on Oct. 30, 1983.