Saint Nunzio dies at just 19 after a life of suffering and, within this very brief span of existence, achieves what at first sight appears to be a paradox: suffering for the love of God and with joy. He experiences this firsthand and invites others to do the same!

Suffering with joy. But is that possible?
For him, yes, because he found all his strength in Jesus and offered every pain to Jesus.
An unbreakable bond connects Nunzio with young people and, in fact, Pope Francis - who canonized him on October 14, 2018, during the Synod of Bishops on “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment” - presented him as the protector of young people. And rightly so! For Saint Nunzio has devoted and continues to devote himself wholeheartedly to them!

A little history

Born in Abruzzo, he is already an orphan of both mother and father at the age of six. He is therefore sent by his maternal grandmother to Pescosansonesco. For Nunzio, his grandmother is a true teacher of life and faith, but when she dies, he is entrusted to an uncle who forces him to work in his blacksmith’s shop: heavy loads, long distances to cover on foot in all weather, but Nunzio does not complain; he thinks of Jesus and begins to offer his toil to him. One day, however, a wound on his foot becomes infected. Another uncle, learning of his situation, entrusts him to Colonel Felice Wochinger, who takes him to heart; it is therefore decided that Nunzio will move to Naples.

He has no luggage with him; the only things he owns are what he is wearing: a rosary crown around his wrist and a little prayer book to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The colonel is a kind and caring father figure to him. The boy remains at the Incurables Hospital for a long time, where he receives the Eucharist for the first time. Here he helps the other patients; he fasts, prays, and gives his meal to those who are lonelier and poorer than he is, even performing genuine miracles, as happens in the case of a man named Nicola La Rosa. This man, hospitalized with throat cancer, was suffering terribly. On the eve of the poor man’s departure - he was being discharged from the hospital so that he could die at home - Nunzio approaches him and says: “Do not be afraid. I will dress your wound now, and you will see that you will soon feel better.” Nunzio then removes Nicola’s bandages and prays with him, and afterward treats his wound. The following day, when examining him, the doctors realize that the throat cancer has disappeared! After leaving the hospital, Nunzio moves in with the colonel, and a beautiful relationship develops between them. On the afternoon of May 5, 1836, Nunzio asks the colonel to let him receive the sacraments and welcomes the Eucharist, saying: “Come, my Father, my Lord, my Spouse, my Love.” Two hours later he exclaims: “See how beautiful Our Lady is!” and gently falls asleep in Christ.

The Wonders of Saint Nunzio for Young People

The episode of Nicola tells us that Saint Nunzio was capable of miraculous healings already during his lifetime, but there are very numerous testimonies of his miracles after he reached Paradise, and it is significant to see how he, forever young, shows particular care and attention for young people. Don Antonio Paone, postulator of the cause for the canonization of Saint Nunzio and author of the book Saint Nunzio Sulprizio.

All good comes from God, for example, recounts that “in 1842, a young Neapolitan man of about 40 who ran a business in Largo di Castello in Naples was suddenly struck by an extremely severe headache that lasted for many days, and doctors diagnosed a brain tumor, which would have required an extremely difficult and risky surgical procedure given the medical techniques of the time. When this young man learned that nearby […] Nunzio Sulprizio was buried, whom everyone said had been a saint during his lifetime, he went to the Servant of God’s tomb with his mother and a Teresian Oblate sister. All three asked Nunzio’s intercession for his healing. The visit to the tomb took place on the day he was due to be admitted to the hospital: when they reached the tomb in the royal church of San Sebastiano, they prayed with faith, and a small image of the Servant of God was placed on the man’s head; then they went to the hospital. The doctors examined him again, and the illness diagnosed several days earlier had disappeared.”

Another miracle took place in 1848: «A young man from San Pietro a Patierno, who sold new and used clothes in Naples, near the Maschio Angioino, was suffering from an advanced throat tumor. The doctors no longer held out any hope. A man named Antonio Carbone, who had known Nunzio when he was at the castle and was responsible for his care, brought the sick man a holy card, recommending that he apply it to his throat. The sick man could no longer speak and was breathing with difficulty; he had fallen into a kind of coma. His family then placed the holy card on his neck with great faith and began asking for Nunzio's intercession. Everything seemed to be getting worse when, all of a sudden, the sick man awoke from the coma, regained his voice, and called his family to tell them that a young man had come to visit him and had healed him. The young man's description matched Nunzio Sulprizio's exactly, and the sick man had never seen the holy card because he was already in a coma when it was applied to him».

Saint Nunzio's latest miracle

Saint Nunzio's latest miracle is also dedicated to a young man: Pasquale Bucci. In an interview with TV2000, he recounts how he was the victim of a very serious road accident in 2004, after which he was in a coma for forty days and spent nine months in hospital.
Saint Nunzio stayed by his side throughout this painful journey and was instrumental in saving his life.