MASTRILLI, MARCELLO FRANCESCO. – Jesuit, missionary, born in Napoli on 14 Sept. 1603, died at Nagasaki on 17 Oct. 1637.
Violently struck on the head by a heavy hammer that had slipped from the hands of a workman in the Gesù of Napoli, he was, after 21 days of futile treatment, reduced to extremity (3 Jan. 1634). Having invoked St. Fr. Saverio, the latter appeared to him, made him renew his vow to go to the Indies and ask for the grace of martyrdom, which had not been granted to him, and healed him, so that on 4 Jan. M. celebrated Mass in church amid the amazement of all. In 1635 he promptly departed for Japan, where he arrived, after a brief stay in the Philippines, while the persecution was raging. In 1637 he was imprisoned by the pagans and suffered martyrdom at Nagasaki, in accordance with the grace he had implored on his deathbed.
The origin of the “Novena of Grace,” which may be made at any time of the year, is connected with his recovery; but it is solemnly observed from 4 to 12 March (the date of the Saint’s canonization), because M., grateful for the healing he had obtained, inspired by word and example a great trust in St. Fr. Saverio, to which the latter responds generously (cf. F. Beringer, Die Ablässe, ihr Wesen und Gebrauch, I, 15th ed. [Paderborn 1921], no. 786).