At Lecce in Apulia, Saint Bernardine Realino, priest of the Society of Jesus, who, renowned for charity and kindness and setting aside worldly honors, devoted himself to the pastoral care of prisoners and the sick and to the ministry of the word and of penance.
Lifespan: 1530–1616
Beatified: 12 January 1896 by Pope Leo XIII
Canonized: 22 June 1947 by Pope Pius XII, Vatican Basilica
Memoria liturgica: 2 July
He Became Patron of a City While Still Alive
Bernardino Realino was born at Carpi (Modena) on 1 December 1530, the eldest son of a nobleman in service at the courts of northern Italy.
Bernardino threw himself with open and ardent spirit into university life, moving from one institution to another, always devoted with equal enthusiasm and happy success to medicine and letters, philosophy and law, a cheerful companion in the student circles of Modena and a willing participant in their lively diversions.
After earning his law degree at Bologna in 1556, he entered the service of the Marquis Francesco Ferdinando d’Avalos, Viceroy of Sicily, and moved to Naples, where in 1564 he came to the decision to enter the Society of Jesus.
He carried out an active apostolate above all in Lecce, where he died on 2 July 1616 at the age of eighty-six.
His relics are preserved in the Church of the Gesù in Lecce.
He was canonized in 1947 by Pope Pius XII.