At Bovino in Apulia, Blessed Anthony Lucci, bishop, of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, who was renowned for his singular learning and was so lavish in relieving the poor that he made no provision even for his own needs.
Lifespan: 1682–1752
Beatified: 18 June 1989 by Pope John Paul II
Memoria liturgica: 25 July
Like a grain of mustard seed . . . the smallest of all seeds . . . yet when it is sown it grows (Mark 4:31)
Angelo Nicola Lucci was born on 2 August 1682 in Agnone in Molise. He entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and in 1698 made his profession of vows, taking the name Anthony. In 1705 he was ordained to the priesthood, and in 1709 he received his doctorate in theology.
As a humble Franciscan friar, devoted to prayer in the manner of a contemplative, a student of theology and teacher of the truths of faith among his brothers in the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, an educator and expert in the ascetical life, Anthony was soon chosen for important offices in his community. In due course, my predecessor Pope Benedict XIII wished to have him among the theologians of two Synods, as a consultor of the Holy Office, and finally as Bishop of Bovino.
In that city his zeal spread, like a “magnificent cedar” (Ezek 17:23), through initiatives of boundless charity. First came spiritual charity, aimed at restoring the clergy to a religious and pastoral life befitting the demands of Holy Orders and of ministry; then social and material charity, in defence of the rights of the poor who were bound to the land, and in protection of the weak who were victims of abuse.
To this end he made himself a catechist for his clergy and his people, proclaimed the Gospel with the clear simplicity of a Franciscan, and personally prepared children for the sacraments of Christian initiation. He also devoted himself to their elementary education, establishing free schools, and took care even to clothe them and provide them with the tools for work. He went so far as to surrender entirely the revenues of the episcopal table, in his desire to give a concrete response to the pressing and inexhaustible demands of charity in an environment of endemic poverty. Like a tree grown large, he too spread the branches of his charitable initiatives to offer shelter and refreshment to all who were in need.