CACCIAGUERRA, BONSIGNORE

CACCIAGUERRA, Bonsignore. – Priest, born in Siena in 1494, died in Rome on 30 June 1566. As a young man, he went to Palermo, where he squandered in luxury and disorder the wealth accumulated through successful trade. However, recalled to his senses by visions of the crucified Jesus, by the loss of his goods, and by the public revelation of his state of conscience made by a possessed woman, he sold everything, went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and then through various cities of Italy, until he settled in Rome, where he was ordained priest in 1547. With the support of St Philip Neri, he was admitted among the chaplains of San Girolamo della Carità, and became a fervent but prudent apostle of frequent and even daily communion. He wrote: Trattato della comunione (Rome 1557, reprinted several times); Trattato della tribolazione (ibid. 1559), highly recommended by St Francis de Sales; Lettere spirituali (I, 1564; II, posthumous, 1575); Pie e devote meditazioni (ibid. 1583).