Liccio, John, Bl.

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LICCIO, JOHN, BL.

Italian Dominican preacher and reformer; b. Càccamo (Palermo), c. 1426; d. there, 1511. He received the religious habit at about 15 years of age in the Monastery of Santa Zita in Palermo, where he learned the spirit of religious reform from his superior (Bl.) Pietro Geremia. He preached with success in Sicily, Vicenza, and Naples. In 1469 he established the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Polizzi, and in 1487 that of Càccamo, where he was the first vicar until 1494, and then first prior until his death. He was elected vicar-general of the reformed congregation of Sicily in 1488 and ten years later became vicar-general of the entire Sicilian Province and also canonical visitator for the reform of the monasteries of Augusta, Taormina, and Trapani. Miracles occurring during his life and during the transfer of his relics led to his beatification by benedict xiv on April 25, 1753.

Feast: Nov. 14.

Bibliography: Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum historica 14 (1904): 229230. g. barreca, Vita del beato Giovanni Liccio da Càccamo (3d ed. Palermo 1953). i. taurisano, Catalogus hagiographicus ordinis praedicatorum (Rome 1918). m. s. coniglione, La Provincia domenicana di Sicilia (Catania 1937); Pietro Geremia (Catania 1952); Il beato Giovanni Liccio da Càccamo (Palermo 1955).

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