This new saint learned to love Jesus and Mary from his grandmother

Blessed Nunzio Sulprizio, who died at the age of 19 from bone cancer, was declared a saint on Oct. 14, 2018, during the Synod of Bishops on young people, faith, and vocational discernment.

At the beatification on Dec. 1, 1963, Saint Paul VI said that Nunzio Sulprizio teaches us that “the period of youth should not be considered the age of free passions, of inevitable falls, of invincible crises, of decadent pessimism, of harmful selfishness. Rather, he will tell you how being young is a grace…”

Born in the Italian region of Abruzzo in 1817, Sulprizio learned the faith from a priest at the local school he attended and from his maternal grandmother. He was orphaned before the age of six, and after the death of his grandmother three years later, went to live with an uncle, who took him on as an apprentice blacksmith, not permitting him to attend school anymore.

His uncle also mistreated him, sending him on long errands, beating him, and withholding meals if he thought things were not done correctly or the boy needed discipline. The young Sulprizio would take consolation in Eucharistic adoration and in praying the Rosary.

While still very young, he contracted an infection in one of his legs, causing intense and constant pain… Due to a lack of proper medical care, the boy developed gangrene, and was sent to a hospital in Naples. There he would unite his pain with Christ’s suffering on the cross, also helping his fellow patients.

During this time, Sulprizio met Saint Gaetano Errico, an Italian priest and founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who promised him he could enter the religious order when he was old enough. However, Sulprizio contracted bone cancer and had to have his leg amputated, but this did not help, and he died from the illness shortly after his 19th birthday in 1836. One of the last things he said was: “Be cheerful. From heaven I will always be helping you.”

Adapted from CNA