BARTOLO da SAN GIMIGNANO, blessed. - Parish priest, born in 1228 into a noble family, in the castle of Mucchio near S. Gimignano. In order to become a religious, he fled to Pisa and entered the Franciscan Third Order. Ordained a priest, he heroically exercised charity toward his neighbour, first at Peccioli, then at Picchena. Stricken with leprosy, he lived for twenty years confined in the leper hospital of S. Gimignano near the Pieve di Cello, enduring the illness with such patience that he was called the “Job of Tuscany.” He died on 12 Dec. 1300 with a reputation for sanctity and was buried in the church of the Hermits of s. Agostino in S. Gimignano. Pope Pius X approved his cult in 1906. Feast day: 12 Dec.
BIBL.: A. Van den Wyngaert, De sanctis et beatis tertii Ordinis, in Archiv. Francisc. Histor., 14 (1921), pp. 18-24; E. Castaldi, Il b. B., il Giobbe della Toscana ed il suo meraviglioso sepolcro di Benedetto da Maiano, Florence 1928 (with bibliography); I. Boschin-J. Palazzolo, Martyrol. Francisc., Rome 1938, p. 478.