Bernardine of Feltre
Italian Franciscan friar
Feast: 28 September (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Bernardine Tomitano, eldest of nine children of a noble family of Feltre, was moved by the preaching of St James of the Marches to join the Franciscans in 1456, and was ordained in 1463.
Cured miraculously of a speech impediment, he became one of the greatest Franciscan missionaries of his century, preaching from Lombardy to Sardinia. He is best remembered for the monti di pietà , charitable lending-houses that protected the poor from usurers, which he reorganised and in a sense founded. He died at Pavia on 28 September 1494.
The miracles
He is honoured as Blessed by long-standing veneration; the Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe a formal cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A friar-preacher who fought usury by founding lending-houses for the poor.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
Connected on this site
- James of the Marches Saint“Bernardine Tomitano, eldest of nine children of a noble family of Feltre, was moved by the preaching of St James of the Marches to join the Franciscans in 1456, and was ordained in 1463.” — this site's research
- Baldassarre Ravaschieri Blessed“Ravaschieri served as a noted preacher and confessor and befriended as contemporaries Bernardine of Feltre and architect Giovanni Antonio Amadeo.” — Wikipedia
- Michele Carcano Blessed“He is remembered in connection with the monti di pietà of which he was the reorganizer and, in a certain sense, the founder, together with Michele Carcano.” — Wikipedia
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Blessed Bernardine of Feltre
- Wikidata Q320878 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Bernardine of Feltre (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.