Francisco Maria de Camporosso (1804–1866)

Biography

Italian Capuchin brother known in Genoa as "the holy father", Francisco María de Camporosso turned the humble task of alms-giver into a great apostolate of charity. Born into a peasant family, he joined the Capuchins as a young man and traveled the streets and houses of the city for decades asking for help for the convent and learning about everyone's needs. He listened, advised, reconciled families and discreetly helped the poor and sick. During a cholera epidemic he offered his life for the city and died infected in 1866, surrounded by popular gratitude.