14 Facts About Giacomo Benefatti

Giacomo Benefatti was an Italian Catholic priest and professed member of the Order of Preachers who ascended to the position of Bishop of Mantua.

Giacomo Benefatti was born in Mantua at some point in the mid 1200s to nobles.

Giacomo Benefatti enrolled in the Order of Preachers in 1290 and was later ordained to the priesthood.

Giacomo Benefatti acquired his master's degree in his theological studies from the University of Paris and later earned his doctorate in theological studies.

Giacomo Benefatti became a close and personal friend of the fellow Dominican friar Cardinal Niccolo Boccasini who later ascended as Pope Benedict XI.

Giacomo Benefatti decided to raise funds for refurbishing churches in the diocese as well as rebuilding the Mantua Cathedral.

Giacomo Benefatti knew Ludovico I Gonzaga when the latter aided in providing donations for the cathedral renovation.

Bishop Giacomo Benefatti became noted among the faithful of the diocese for his careful attention to poor people as well as for his ardent dedication to the ill during a period of plague epidemic.

Giacomo Benefatti served as a papal legate for Pope John XXII.

The pontiff held him in high esteem and in 1320 conferred episcopal consecration on Giacomo Benefatti who had not received it at that point - but sources differ on whether it was in 1320 or back in 1304 after being appointed as bishop.

Giacomo Benefatti earned the moniker of the "Father of the Poor".

Giacomo Benefatti's remains were found to be incorrupt in 1480 after the Dominican church he was interred in was undergoing reconstruction and his remains were found to be still incorrupt in 1604.

Giacomo Benefatti's remains were moved to the diocese's main cathedral in 1823.

Giacomo Benefatti's beatification received ratification on 22 September 1859 once Pope Pius IX confirmed the local 'cultus' - or popular veneration - to the late bishop existed after his death and endured through the centuries.