Charles of Sezze, Blessed

CHARLES OF SEZZE, Blessed. - Lay Franciscan, in the world Giovanni Carlo Melchior, b. at Sezze Romano on 19 Oct. 1613, d. at Rome on 6 Jan. 1670. Having taken his solemn vows on 19 May 1636, after a brief stay in some convents of the Roman province, he entered at Rome the convent of St. Francis a Ripa, where he remained almost uninterruptedly until his death. Through ecstatic prayer he attained the passive purification of the soul and thence the mystical graces such as visions, prophecies, etc., for which, while still alive, he was venerated by many. In the octave of 1648, while he was praying in the church of St. Joseph at Capo le Case, his heart was pierced by a dart of light issuing from the consecrated Host, and it remained wounded. The process of beatification was opened immediately after his death, and on 1 Oct. 1881 Leo XIII inscribed him in the catalogue of the blessed.

Although he was almost illiterate, he wrote several works, of which the following have been published: Trattato delle tre vie della meditazione, e stati della santa contemplazione (Rome 1654, 2nd ed. ibid. 1664; 3rd ed. ibid. 1742); Canti spirituali (in the appendix to the 2nd ed. of the preceding work); Cammino interno dell'anima (ibid. 1664); Settenari sacri (ibid. 1666), with an appendix, Esercizio divoto per la novena di Nostro Signore, republished in 1865. Many others are preserved in manuscript in the library of the Postulation of the Friars Minor at Rome, the most important of which is: Le grandezze della misericordia di Dio, which contains his autobiography.

Renata Orazi Ausenda