Pope Francis added an Italian teenager to the list of people he will formally recognise as saints on 14 October during the month-long meeting of the world Synod of Bishops on young people.
During an “ordinary public consistory” July 19, Pope Francis announced he would declare Blessed Nunzio Sulprizio (pictured) a saint the same day he will canonise Blesseds Oscar Romero, Paul VI and four others.
An ordinary public consistory is a meeting of the pope, cardinals and promoters of sainthood causes that formally ends the sainthood process. Sulprizio was born on 13 April 1817, in the Abruzzo region near Pescara.
Both of his parents died when he was an infant and his maternal grandmother, who raised him, died when he was nine. An uncle took him under his guardianship and had the young boy work for him in his blacksmith shop. However, the work was too strenuous for a boy his age and he developed a problem in his leg, which became gangrenous.
A military colonel took care of Sulprizio, who was eventually hospitalised in Naples. The young teen faced tremendous pain with patience and serenity and offered up his sufferings to God.
He died in Naples in 1836 at the age of 19. He was declared blessed in 1963 by Blessed Paul VI, who will be canonised together with the teen.