Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph

Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph was born Francesco Postillo on 16 November 1729 in Taranto, a port city in Apulia then belonging to the Kingdom of Naples. He was the eldest child of Cataldo Postillo and Grazia Procaccio and grew up in a poor but devout household. When his father died in 1747, Francesco, still in his teens, assumed responsibility for his mother and younger siblings. He earned their keep as a rope-maker, a trade closely tied to Taranto's maritime life, and was already noted for a serious piety, a willingness to share what little he had, and a desire for religious life. For several years he delayed entering a convent so as not to abandon his family, a detail often stressed in later accounts of his sense of duty.

In 1754, at about the age of twenty-five, he was received as a lay brother by the Discalced Friars Minor of the Alcantarine reform, a strict Franciscan family inspired by Saint Peter of Alcántara and then well established in southern Italy. He began his novitiate at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Galatone and received the name Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph, combining the memory of the medieval hermit Saint Giles with a particular devotion to Saint Joseph. He made religious profession as a brother and never sought ordination to the priesthood. After brief assignments in Apulia he was sent in 1759 to the convent of San Pasquale a Chiaia in Naples, a house that would be his home for the remaining fifty-three years of his life.

At San Pasquale he was given the offices of porter and questor. As porter he met all who came to the friary door; as questor he walked the streets, alleys, and markets of Naples collecting alms for the community. Eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Naples was one of the largest and poorest cities in Europe, subject to famine, overcrowding, and recurrent epidemics. Brother Egidio used these humble tasks as the means of a tireless apostolate. He gave food and small sums to the hungry, visited the sick in hospitals and private houses, and paid special attention to neglected children. Rich and poor alike came to him for prayer, advice, and comfort, and he became popularly known as the Consoler of Naples. Contemporary witnesses described him as small of stature, patient, and unassuming, insistent that any good done through him was God's work. Even in his lifetime he was credited with conversions and with healings, though he fled praise and remained obedient to his superiors.

In old age he suffered from a painful hernia and other infirmities but continued to serve at the door and in the streets as long as he was able. He died in the convent at Naples on 7 February 1812, at the age of eighty-two. Immense crowds attended his funeral, and devotion to him took root both in Naples and in his native Taranto. His body is venerated in the church of San Pasquale a Chiaia. A canonical process was introduced in the nineteenth century; Pope Leo XIII beatified him on 5 February 1888. Pope John Paul II canonized him on 2 June 1996, presenting him as a witness to the dignity of humble work and of charity toward the poorest. His liturgical feast is celebrated on 7 February. He is honored in a special way in Taranto and remains a beloved figure in Neapolitan popular devotion.