A Sicilian Capuchin lay brother and beloved beggar for the friary, canonized in 2005 for his simple, joyful holiness.

Saint Felix of Nicosia was a Capuchin Franciscan lay brother from Nicosia, Sicily, who died on 31 May 1787 at the age of seventy-one after more than four decades of religious life. Trained as a shoemaker before entering the Capuchins, he spent most of his religious life as the friary’s questor, begging door to door for alms, and became known across the region for his humility, cheerfulness, and gift for reconciling quarrelling neighbors. He was canonized in 2005.

Quick Facts

• Born: 1715, Nicosia, Sicily, Italy
• Died: 31 May 1787, Nicosia, Sicily, Italy (age 71)
• Feast Day: May 31
• Venerated as: Religious, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
• Beatified: 1888
• Canonized: 2005

Who Was Saint Felix of Nicosia?

Saint Felix of Nicosia was born Filippo Giacomo Amoroso in the Sicilian town of Nicosia. He trained as a shoemaker in his youth and, after repeated attempts, was finally accepted into the Capuchin Franciscans as a lay brother in 1743, taking the religious name Felix. He made his profession the following year and remained a Capuchin for the rest of his life.

Historical Setting

For more than forty years Felix served his friary chiefly as the questor, the brother sent out each day to beg bread, oil, and alms for the community — a humble but essential office in the Capuchin way of life, which depended entirely on the charity of the surrounding towns. Eighteenth-century Sicily was a place of real poverty, and Felix’s daily rounds put him in close, ordinary contact with the people he served.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Felix of Nicosia

Felix became known well beyond his own friary for his warmth, his simple and direct manner of speaking about God, and his effectiveness at settling disputes between neighbors and even estranged family members. Contemporaries described him as constantly cheerful despite austere personal penances, and devotion to him grew rapidly among the ordinary people of Nicosia during his own lifetime.

Canonization and Feast Day

Felix of Nicosia was beatified in 1888 by Pope Leo XIII and canonized on 23 October 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI. His feast is kept on May 31, the day of his death.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Felix’s holiness was built almost entirely out of an ordinary, repetitive daily task — begging for his community — carried out with patience and good humor for over forty years. He shows that a life of extraordinary charity does not require an extraordinary occupation, only extraordinary faithfulness to whatever occupation one is given.

A Prayer to Saint Felix of Nicosia

Saint Felix of Nicosia, cheerful beggar for the poor and peacemaker among neighbors, help us to find joy in small daily service and to be instruments of reconciliation wherever we find discord. Amen.

Sources

• Vatican.va (canonization homily, 23 October 2005)
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints
• EWTN, biographical entries on Capuchin saints