Venerated in Roman Catholic Church | Feast 14 November | |
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Attributes Dominican habitCrucifix | ||
Processione beato giovanni liccio caccamo 2015
Blessed Giovanni Liccio (1400 - 14 November 1511) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Preachers. Liccio was a noted miracle worker and a pious preacher who was also known for his simple and ascetic manner of living. Liccio's miracles earned him the reputation of being a saint and devotion to him throughout the Sicilian cities spread at a rapid pace.
Contents
- Processione beato giovanni liccio caccamo 2015
- Beato giovanni liccio maggio 2016
- Life
- Beatification
- References
On 25 April 1753 he was beatified after his cultus was approved.
Beato giovanni liccio maggio 2016
Life
Giovanni Liccio was born in 1400 in Palermo to a poor farmer. His mother died during childbirth and left Liccio with no mother.
His father had to work in the fields so left Liccio alone so he could work and would feed him crushed pomegranates because he could not afford other food. Liccio's cries led to a female neighbor taking him to her home to feed him and left him next to the bedside of her immobile husband. But the husband could move as soon as Liccio was placed near him. The neighbor told Liccio's father but the latter was dismissive and more concerned with the fact that she had taken his son without his permission. As soon as the child was taken the husband could no longer move. Liccio's father took this as a sign of the divine and allowed the neighbours to care for his son while he worked.
Before he turned ten he was able to recite the canonical hours. On a trip to Palermo at the age of fifteen he went to have his Confession heard in the church of Saint Zita of Lucca; the Blessed Pietro Geremia heard his confession and suggested that Liccio become a religious and pushed the idea across. Despite his initial feelings of doubt he joined the Order of Preachers in 1415 and was later ordained to the priesthood.
Once he was ordained he set himself on establishing a convent devoted to Saint Zita of Lucca in Caccamo. He lacked the appropriate funds for the construction so reflected and while this happened had a vision. In his vision, an angel told him to "build on the foundations" that now existed. Mere hours later he found the abandoned foundation of a church - Santa Maria degli Angeli - that was never finished and so took over the site upon assuming that was the place the angel mentioned to him.
Liccio gained the reputation of being a miracle worker for he could heal people and could transcend the norms. On several occasions - for the workers - he could double the amount of bread and wine available. He could heal people's deformities and injuries. Despite being a miracle worker he was not known for being a great homilist. He was made the provincial of all Dominican Sicilian houses. He was called to preach in Vicenza (1466–67) and in Naples (1479).
Liccio died in his hometown on 14 November 1511.
Beatification
Liccio received beatification on 25 April 1753 after Pope Benedict XIV had approved his cultus as being a long-standing devotion across Palermo and other Sicilian cities.