PUCCI, ANTONIO MARIA, blessed. — Servite, Eustachio in the world, b. at Poggiola di Vernio (diocese of Pistoia) on 16 Apr. 1819, d. at Viareggio (diocese of Lucca) on 12 Jan. 1892.
Having entered the Order on 10 July 1837, and ordained priest in 1843, he was first assistant parish priest and then, for 45 years, parish priest of the church of S. Andrea at Viareggio, where the people were accustomed to call him the “little curate.” He devoted himself unsparingly to his flock in preaching, hearing confessions, removing scandals, aiding the poor—even depriving himself—assisting the sick and dying, especially during the cholera epidemics of 1854, 1855, and 1884. Anticipating the present forms of Catholic Action, he established associations for every category of his parishioners: children, young people, men, and women; he founded the Mantellate Sisters Servants of Mary for the education of girls, and the first seaside hospice for poor sick children; he introduced the Conferences of S. Vincent and the Pontifical Missionary Works. He was also superior of his community and, from 1884 to 1890, provincial.
He was beatified by Pius XII on 22 June 1952.