The bishop of Macao has requested that the Italian priest Gaetano Nicosia be canonised for his work with lepers in Macao and other parts of southern China, according to multiple Catholic media reports. Father Nicosia died in Hong Kong in late 2017, at the age of 102, having served in the area for more than 70 years.
Bishop Stephen Lee Bun Sang issued an edict “announcing the opening of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonisation of the Servant of God Gaetano Nicosia” last month, according to the Salesian Bulletin. This begins the process for Catholics to express their favour or opposition to Father Nicosia’s pending sainthood, and share their testimony about him. If successful, Nicosia would be the first Catholic saint whose sainthood arose directly from their work in Macao.
Born in Sicily, Italy, in 1915, Nicosia entered the Salesian Order in 1935. He then travelled to China as a missionary and was ordained a priest at Macao’s St Joseph’s Seminary and Church in 1946.
In 1963, Macao’s then-bishop asked Father Nicosia to serve at the Ka Ho leper colony in Coloane – a place so feared and neglected that local medical personnel avoided it.
Father Nicosia accepted the mission and spent nearly five decades transforming the isolated settlement, where suicide had been common. Under his leadership, the colony gained new housing, clean water, electricity and established small-scale farming. He helped patients to regain their dignity, and, in many cases, fully reintegrate into society.
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Father Nicosia’s dedication to their wellbeing saw him become known as the “angel of lepers.” By the time he left the colony in 2011, its residents had all been cured of leprosy.
The Italian also helped establish a school and hospital for people with disabilities in Macao. In his later years, he met Pope Francis in Rome, accompanied by Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong.
Father Nicosia died at St Mary’s Home for the Aged in Hong Kong, where he was cared for by the Little Sisters of the Poor. He is buried in Macao’s St Michael’s cemetery.
The Cause for Beatification and Canonisation will also be shared with the dioceses of Hong Kong and Catania, as well as the Patriarchate of Lisbon, reflecting Father Nicosia’s international life and legacy.
In order for Father Nicosia to become a saint, the current Pope must declare that he lived a life of “heroic virtue.” The Catholic Church must also verify at least two miracles attributed to him.
