Seraphim of Montegranaro (1540–1604)

Biography

Later he was a bricklayer's laborer, but his vocation was very clear: he wanted to be a monk. After much work, he managed to enter the Capuchin Order. Despite his ignorance and rusticity, he soon amazed everyone with his virtues, his ecstasies and his miracles. He, who had never read a book, read in consciences. Whoever was only good for planting cabbages in the garden, explained the Gospel as if the Holy Spirit had come to tell him about it. Although favored by so many extraordinary graces, he was tested for long years with interior distress that ceased in the final stretch of his life. Six years after his death, Pope Paul V allowed lamps to be lit at his tomb, which foreshadowed that he would one day be elevated to the altars.