dominican saints

One of the bright lights of the fifteenth century was Damian of Finario. Unfortunately we know very little about him, expect that he lived at a time and place not noted for sanctity, and he was known as a holy man.

Damian was born in Finario, near Genoa, at the end of the fourteenth century. His people were ich and noble, and also pious. We know nothing of his youth, except the not-too-revealing fact that when he was a baby he was kidnapped by a lunatic. His parents prayed to Our Lady, and the baby was returned unharmed.

Damian entered the order at Genoa and became a diligent student and a model Dominican. He was to be known especially for his preaching. The field of his endeavors was Italy. He seems never to have left the country. By the force of his preaching, he inspired many hundreds of sinners to repentance; and, since the fifteenth century produced many sinners who needed such preaching, he was kept supplied with works for a long lifetime.

Damian died in a little village near Modena, in 1884, and immediately became the object of much pious speculation, because of the miracles worked at his tomb. He was not, however, beatified until 1848, though his relics were by that time widely distributed and his cult well known.