Confessor Joseph of Leonissa

Joseph of Leonissa (Giuseppe da Leonessa) was born Eufranio Desideri in 1556 at Leonessa, a mountain town of the central Apennines then in the Kingdom of Naples and now in the province of Rieti in Lazio, Italy. Traditional sources assign him to the Desideri family, of notable local standing. Left an orphan in childhood, he was raised by an uncle who intended him for a secular career and marriage. From an early age he showed a marked attraction to prayer, penance, and religious life. His education included studies at Viterbo and a period among the Jesuits at Siena. In his mid-teens he entered the Capuchin branch of the Franciscans, receiving the name Joseph. He was later ordained a priest and formed in the Capuchin life of poverty, itinerant preaching, and austerity.

After profession and ordination he spent years preaching popular missions in the towns and countryside of Umbria, Lazio, and the Abruzzi. He was known for a direct, penitential style of preaching aimed at conversion of life, and for practical charity toward the poor, the imprisoned, and the sick. He encouraged hospitals and monti di pietà (charitable funds) to assist those in need. In 1587 he joined the Capuchin mission at Constantinople, where he served as chaplain to Christian slaves, especially galley slaves. According to the traditional hagiographical accounts, his zeal led him to preach more openly and even to attempt to address the Ottoman court; he was arrested, condemned, and tortured by being suspended for three days from a hook. He was freed through the intervention of Western, especially Venetian, diplomats and returned to Italy about 1589.

The remainder of his life was an intense apostolate of preaching throughout central Italy, combined with works of mercy and remembered service in times of famine and epidemic. In later years he developed a cancerous tumor. In early 1612 he underwent a painful surgical operation, which contemporary accounts describe as endured without anesthesia and offered in a spirit of penance. Weakened by illness, he nonetheless set out on another preaching journey and died at Amatrice on 4 February 1612. His remains were later brought to Leonessa, where a sanctuary developed around his cult and where his relics have been venerated.

Devotion to Joseph of Leonissa grew first among the Capuchins and in the districts he had evangelized. He was beatified by Pope Clement XII in 1737 and canonized by Pope Benedict XIV in 1746. The Catholic Church keeps his feast on 4 February. He is the patron saint of Leonessa and is commonly invoked by those suffering from cancer, in recollection of the disease he bore in his last years. Capuchin tradition cites his life as an example of missionary courage, penitential preaching, and charity to the marginalized.