Venerable Ludovico Morbioli

Ludovico Morbioli (1433 - 9 November 1485) was an Italian Roman Catholic from Bologna who led a dissolute life before adopting a life of repentance. Morbioli was married but separated from his wife after experiencing a sudden religious conversion in Venice during a grave illness - he forever wandered the streets preaching on penance and the need for personal mortifications. His use of a white habit has given rise to misconceptions that he was part of the Carmelite Order when he was not. Morbioli's beatification received full approval on 24 October 1843 after Pope Gregory XVI confirmed the late penitent's longstanding and enduring local 'cultus' - or popular veneration. Ludovico Morbioli was born in 1433 in Bologna to Francesco Antonio and Agnes Morbioli as one of six children (five males and one female). He led a dissolute life of vice that included drinking and other forms of pleasure-seeking. Morbioli married Lucia Tura - the daughter of Giovanni who knew Morbioli's father. In 1462 he relocated to Venice where he was stricken with a serious illness which prompted him to be taken to the Canons Regular of Saint Salvatore for aid and in order to recuperate. It was during his time of recuperation that he underwent a profound spiritual crisis that challenged him to the core and resulted in his determination to make a radical change to his own life - one of penance for his earlier misdeeds. He returned to Bologna sometime in 1470 in order to start a life of penitence with austerities he would undertake as a particular penance. He separated from his wife and put on a plain shirt - hence being confused for a Carmelite - and then put on a white one with a cross on his chest that he wore all the time. He preached penance and self-mortification to the people that he encountered and he would often go with those condemned to the scaffold for merciful comfort and solace. He visited Modena and Ferrara on a mule and travelled with a cross in his hands.