Saint Conrad of Piacenza

Conrad Confalonieri of Piacenza, TOSF (Italian: Corrado, 1290 [or 1284] (in Italian) – 19 February 1351), was an Italian hermit of the Third Order of St. Francis, who is venerated as a saint. Little is known of Conrad's life. He seems to have been born Corrado Confalonieri, into one of the foremost families of Piacenza, in Calendasco, a fiefdom of his family, who owned the Castle of Calendasco. His date of birth is uncertain. He apparently married an aristocratic young lady, Ephrosyne, when he too was quite young. There is no question that Conrad was a Franciscan tertiary. The new Roman Martyrology acknowledges his forty years as a hermit, and a life marked by prayer and acts of penance. Pope Leo X beatified Conrad on 12 July 1515, and sanctioned his feast day being celebrated in Netum. On 30 October 1544, Pope Paul III extended permission to the whole island. On 2 June 1625, he was canonised by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, who was the Duke of Parma and Piacenza. This was at a solemn ceremony at Piacenza Cathedral, where his feast day was declared obligatory. On 12 September 1625, Pope Urban VIII allowed the Franciscans to use dedicated propers for the Divine Office and Mass on the saint’s feast day. Nowadays, this particular liturgical form is limited to the Franciscan tertiaries, to which Conrad had belonged. On his feast day, the parish church of San Corrado in Noto celebrates him by the distributing blessed bread. During Conrad’s beatification process, a widespread narrative for which an acceptable historical basis had yet to surface. It is suggested that one day, Conrad had been out hunting within his family's domain, as was his custom. To flush out some game, he had ordered some brushwood be set alight. The prevailing wind, it is said, caused the flames to spread rapidly to surrounding fields and forest.