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Blessed Bartholomew Buonpedoni

detail of a fresco of Blessed Bartolo Buonpedoni by Benozzo Gozzoli, c.1464; church of Saint Agustine, San Gimignano, Italy; image swiped from Wikimedia Commons Also known as

Bartolo Buonpedoni da San Gimignano
Bartholomew of San Gimignano
Bartholomew of Tuscany
The Job of Tuscany (nickname given in honour of his patient faith while afflicted with leprosy)

Memorial

12 December

Profile

Born to the nobility, the only son of Count Giovanni and Countess Giuntina Bounpedoni, a couple who had prayed for decades for a child. When he came of age, his family tried to arrange a marriage for Bartolo, but the young man felt a call to religious life and left home. He travelled to Pisa, Italy where he became a lay servant and infirmary nurse to the Benedictines in at the monastery of Saint Vitus while he discerned his vocation. Following a vision of the risen Christ, Bartolo travelled to Volterra, Italy where he became a Franciscan tertiary and continued to pray about his vocation. At age 30, by order of the bishop of Volterra, he was ordained a diocesan priest. He served first as chaplain at Peccioli, Italy, and then as parish priest in Picchena, Italy. It was here that he contracted leprosy; he gave up parish work, dressed as a Franciscan tertiary, and spent his remaining twenty years ministering to the lepers of his region in their colony and hospital in Cellole, Italy, assisted by his long-time friend Blessed Vivaldus.