Pino Puglisi
Italian beatified priest (1937–1993)
Feast: 15 September (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Giuseppe Puglisi was born in Palermo on 15 September 1937 in the poor district of Brancaccio, entered the seminary in 1953 and was ordained on 2 July 1960. For thirty years he worked in many delicate posts, and on 29 September 1990 became parish priest in Brancaccio.
By educating boys in the Gospel he drew them away from organised crime, and so the Mafia tried to defeat him by killing him in 1993. Benedict XVI recognised his martyrdom on 28 June 2012.
The miracles
As a martyr he was beatified, in Palermo, without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A parish priest killed by the Mafia for rescuing boys from it.
The cause
Pino Puglisi has been beatified; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: Archdiocese of Palermo: the cause of Blessed Pino Puglisi.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Pino Puglisi
- Wikidata Q772434 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Pino Puglisi (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.