Stefano Minicillo

Who they were

Stefano Minicillo was bishop of Caiazzo for 44 years between the 10th and 11th centuries, a period during which he gave all his strength to a life of charity, calling himself "God's confessor" for his devotion to prayer, fasting and penance. Even in his lifetime he became known for miracles: in 982, while giving Communion to a great crowd in the cathedral, a marble column fell on the people without harming anyone, and the following Easter, a glass chalice he was handing to a cleric shattered but, after he prayed, was restored whole before the astonished onlookers.

He died on 29 October 1023 and was buried beneath the cathedral, which quickly became a pilgrimage site drawing people from across Campania; many further miracles were reported at his tomb, including healings and the freeing of a woman from possession, earning him the title of wonder-worker. In 1284 the rebuilt cathedral was consecrated in his honour, he being by then acclaimed a saint, and in 1512, after further prodigies, a search for his body found him entirely incorrupt, still dressed in his cope and mitre, with the pectoral cross that is still preserved today as a relic of great historical and artistic value.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Bishop of Caiazzo for 44 years, renowned as a wonder-worker both in life and at his tomb, and found incorrupt in 1512; feast 29 October.