Saint for the Month

SAINT FOR THE MONTH

saint_pic
FELIX OF NICOSIA
Feast: May 31
(1715-1787)




FELIX OF NICOSIA was born of the marriage between Filippo Amoroso and Carmela Pirro, in Nicosia, Sicily, on November 5, 1715. He was baptized on the same day, and was given the names Philip James. His father, a shoemaker by trade, died on October 12, 1715, leaving his widow with three children.

The family was poor but very religious. As a young boy, Felix worked in the workshop of the shoemaker Giovanni Cavarelli, close to the Capuchin friary, and so he often had opportunities to visit the community, get to know the friars and admire their way of life. Like most Sicilian boys in those days, he never attended school. The more time he spent with the friars, the more strongly he felt drawn to their life: their joyful austerity, their liberating poverty, their penance and prayer, their charity and missionary spirit.

At the age of 20 he asked the superior of the friary in Nicosia to speak for him to the Father Provincial of Messina so that he could be admitted to the Order as a lay brother. His request was repeated for eight successive years, and was denied, but his desire was as strong as ever.

In 1743, hearing that the Provincial of Messina was visiting in Nicosia, Felix asked to see him and explained his cherished wish. At last, the Provincial admitted him to the Order and sent him to the friary at Mistretta for his novitiate year. On October 10, 1743 he began his novitiate, taking the name of Brother Felix. All his biographers tell us that Brother Felix was distinguished for his flair for obedience, his angelic purity, his love of mortification and his truly seraphic patience. It was with these virtues that he made his profession on October 10, 1744.

Immediately after profession his superiors sent him to the friary of Nicosia. He was given the job of collecting alms. Every day he would walk through the streets, knocking on the doors of the rich, inviting them to share their prosperity, and of the humble dwellings of the poor, offering them comfort in their daily necessities. There was a tranquil serenity and discretion about him as he moved through the streets, going from house to house.

Brother Felix was unable to read and write, yet full of Christian doctrine. Whatever he could not learn by reading sacred Scripture, he learned by heart and by being firmly resolved to nourish his soul more and more. So he made every effort to absorb the passages of Scripture and the edifying books that were read at table in the friary, and listen to the sermons in the churches of Nicosia.

He was devoted to the crucified Christ. Every Friday he used to contemplate the passion and death of Jesus. Each Friday in March he fasted on bread and water and knelt with his arms outstretched in the form of a cross, meditating before the Crucifix. He had veneration for the Eucharist, spending hours in front of the tabernacle. He showed tender devotion to the Mother of GOD.

At the end of May, 1787 he was overtaken by a sudden, raging fever while working in the garden. His superior, Fr. Macario, ordered him under obedience to lie down. Brother Felix told the doctor who prescribed medicines for him that they were useless, because this was his final illness. His earthly life came to an end at 2 a.m. on May 31, 1787. He was beatified by Leo XIII on February 12, 1888.