TOMMASO ELIA (Hélye) of BIVILLE, blessed. - Priest, born at Biville (Manche) in 1187, son of Elia and Matilde, died at the castle of Vauville on 19 October 1257.
He studied in Paris and, having been ordained a priest, distinguished himself as a preacher and confessor, in the spirit of prayer and penance, and in assisting the sick. Almoner to King s. Luigi IX, he devoted the night to prayer and the day to the needs of his neighbour. He was favoured with the spirit of prophecy and the gift of miracles. After his death the people began to venerate him. In 1833 a confraternity under his name was still flourishing. His cult was approved only in 1860, although the process for his canonization had already been begun in 1261.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Octobris, VIII, Bruxelles 1853, pp. 592-622; Confirmatione cultus ab immemorabili tempore praestiti, Roma 1859; L. de Pontoumant, Vie du B. T. Hélye de Biville, suivie d'un poème du XIIe s. publié par la première fois, Cherbourg 1868; C. Louis, Vie du B. T. Hélye, missionnaire, ivi 1903 (cf. review by Van Orroy, in Anal. boll., 22 (1903), p. 502). Felice da Mareto