Saint Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph

Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph (16 November 1729 – 7 February 1812) - born Francesco Pontillo - was an Italian professed religious of the Order of Friars Minor. Pontillo became a Franciscan brother rather than an ordained priest due to his lack of a proper education and so dedicated himself to the care of the poor and ill in southern Italian cities such as Taranto and Naples where he earned the moniker of the "Consoler of Naples". Francesco Pontillo was born in Taranto on 16 November 1729 to Cataldo Postillo and Grazia Procaccio; three siblings later followed him. He was baptized as Francesco Domenico Antonio Pasquale Pontillo. His father died in 1747 and this forced Pontillo to seek work to provide for his widowed mother and siblings. For a brief period of time he worked as a rope maker. The lack of a personal education meant that he was unable to become a priest and served instead as a professed religious in the Order of Friars Minor in Naples. He applied to enter the order on 27 February 1754 and made his solemn profession of vows on 28 February 1755 at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Galatone. He assumed the religious name of "Egidio of the Mother of God" but he later altered this instead to "Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph". Postillo served as a porter and gatekeeper at his convent and worked as a cook at the convent in Squinzano while also working with lepers; he often travelled outside the confines of his convent to beg for alms and to aid those who were shunned and isolated. Postillo spent almost a week at a convent in Capuso near Bari in 1759 when he was assigned to the convent of San Pasquale in Chiaia near Naples. Pontillo died in Naples in 1812. His death came as a result of severe sciatica coupled with severe asthma and then dropsy. His remains are housed at San Pasquale convent's adjacent church in Chiaia.