A Sicilian Theatine cardinal and pioneering scholar who recovered and edited the Church’s ancient liturgical manuscripts.

Saint Giuseppe Maria Tomasi di Lampedusa (1649 to 1713) was a Sicilian nobleman who became a Theatine priest, a scholar of ancient liturgical manuscripts, and eventually a cardinal of the Roman Church, serving as Cardinal-Priest of San Martino ai Monti from 1712 until his death the following year. He was known both for his learning and for his personal simplicity and charity to the poor.

Quick Facts

• Died: 1 January 1713 (Roma, Italy)
• Age at death: about 63 years
• Venerated as: Priest and pastor
• Canonized: 1986
• Beatified: 1803

Who Was Saint Giuseppe Maria Tomasi di Lampedusa?

Saint Giuseppe Maria Tomasi di Lampedusa (1649 to 1713) was a Sicilian nobleman who became a Theatine priest, a scholar of ancient liturgical manuscripts, and eventually a cardinal of the Roman Church, serving as Cardinal-Priest of San Martino ai Monti from 1712 until his death the following year. He was known both for his learning and for his personal simplicity and charity to the poor.

Historical Setting

The turn of the eighteenth century saw growing scholarly interest in recovering and editing the Church’s earliest liturgical texts, part of a broader effort to understand the historical development of the Roman rite. Tomasi’s editorial work on ancient sacramentaries and lectionaries placed him among the founders of modern liturgical scholarship, work later built on by nineteenth and twentieth century liturgists.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Giuseppe Maria Tomasi di Lampedusa

Tomasi is remembered both as a scholar, whose editions of ancient liturgical books preserved texts that might otherwise have been lost, and as a pastor, who despite his noble birth and eventual cardinalate lived with notable personal poverty and spent heavily on the relief of Rome’s poor rather than on his own comfort.

Canonization and Feast Day

He died on 1 January 1713 in Rome at sixty-three. He was beatified in 1803 by Pope Pius VII and canonized in 1986 by Pope John Paul II.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Saint Giuseppe Maria Tomasi shows that rigorous scholarship and personal austerity toward the poor can belong to the same life. His example speaks to anyone tempted to treat intellectual work and charitable service as separate callings rather than two expressions of the same love of God.

A Prayer to Saint Giuseppe Maria Tomasi di Lampedusa

Saint Giuseppe Maria Tomasi, scholar of the Church’s ancient prayer and friend of the poor, pray for those who study the Church’s tradition, that their learning may always serve charity. Amen.

Sources

• Roman Martyrology
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints