Saint Benedict the Moor

Saint Benedict the Moor (in Italian, il Moro), also called the Black, was a hermit and later a lay brother among the Franciscans of Palermo. A descendant of African slaves, unable to read or write, he worked in the friary kitchen and was also entrusted with the office of superior and the formation of novices. He is also known as Benedict of San Fratello or of Palermo. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on April 4.

He was born at San Fratello near Messina, in Sicily, about 1526; some sources give the year 1524. His parents, Cristoforo and Diana, were Christians descended from slaves brought from Africa. According to many accounts they were slaves themselves, and their master promised freedom to their firstborn son. From his youth Benedict tended flocks and worked the land. He was sometimes mocked for the color of his skin, but those who came to know his goodness were already calling him the holy Moor.

At the age of twenty-one he sold what he owned, gave the money to the poor, and joined the hermits whom Girolamo Lanza had gathered in that region. The community lived by the Rule of Saint Francis and, in search of solitude, eventually moved to Monte Pellegrino near Palermo. After Lanza’s death the brothers chose Benedict as their superior.

In 1562 Pope Pius IV dissolved the community and directed the hermits to enter approved religious orders. Benedict chose the Friars Minor and was received at the friary of Santa Maria di Gesù in Palermo. He spent his first three years at the friary of Saint Anne in Giuliana, then returned to Palermo and remained there for twenty-four years, until his death. He was a brother without holy orders, could neither read nor write, and worked in the kitchen.

He lived austerely, fasting much and sleeping little. In 1578, though he was not a priest, he became guardian, that is, superior of the friary. He accepted the office out of obedience and held it for three years. Afterward he was novice master, and in the end he returned to the kitchen. The poor and the powerful came to him for counsel and prayer, priests and theologians among them. Witnesses in the canonization process spoke of many healings through his intercession.

In 1589 he fell gravely ill and, after several weeks, died on April 4 at the friary of Santa Maria di Gesù. For more than four centuries his body rested in the church there. In July 2023 the church was destroyed by a fire that did not spare the saint’s relics.

Devotion to him spread quickly from Sicily through Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and reached Latin America as well, where people of African descent came to love him in a special way. Palermo honors him as co-patron of the city alongside Saint Rosalia. Pope Benedict XIV beatified him on May 15, 1743, and Pius VII canonized him on May 24, 1807, in the Vatican Basilica. In Brazil, where he is among the best-loved saints, he is commemorated on October 5.