Description
The Monument to Cardinal Dusmet stands in Piazza San Francesco d'Assisi, in the historic center of Catania, and is dedicated to the "holy cardinal" whom the people of Catania still remember today: Giuseppe Benedetto Dusmet, archbishop of the city for twenty-seven years, who died in 1894 and has been blessed since 1988.
More than a place to linger, it is a short stop along the center: a statue that recalls a figure "humble and at the same time grand," as the sources describe him. It was designed by Raffaele Leone and sculpted by Silvestre Cuffaro, with the collaboration of Mimì Maria Lazzaro and Elio Romano.
On the base is carved the beginning of one of his sayings about charity, the virtue that most characterized him. It is worth reading up close: it is the simplest way to understand why the people of Catania are still fond of him.
Dusmet was born in Palermo in 1818, to a noble family, and as a boy entered the Benedictine abbey of San Martino delle Scale. His father, who wanted to see him married, could not make him change course: he took his vows in 1840 and was ordained a priest the following year.
In 1854, during a cholera epidemic in Caltanissetta, he distinguished himself by caring for the sick of every condition, "as much in the humble hovel as in the palaces of the nobles." People began to say: "let us turn to Prior Dusmet, he is a saint."
In 1858 he became abbot of San Nicolò l'Arena, Catania's great monastery, and in 1862 he had to host Garibaldi there with his general staff. In 1866 the new Kingdom of Italy confiscated the convent, and he was the last to leave it.
In 1867 Pius IX appointed him archbishop of Catania. He faced eruptions, earthquakes, floods and epidemics. In 1886 the lava threatened Nicolosi and then stopped: the rescue was attributed to Saint Agatha and the cardinal's prayers. In 1889 Leo XIII made him a cardinal.
He died on April 4, 1894, so poor, it is told, that not even a sheet could be found to cover him. Since 1988 his body has rested in an urn beneath the altar of the Virgin, in the cathedral.
More than a place to linger, it is a short stop along the center: a statue that recalls a figure "humble and at the same time grand," as the sources describe him. It was designed by Raffaele Leone and sculpted by Silvestre Cuffaro, with the collaboration of Mimì Maria Lazzaro and Elio Romano.
On the base is carved the beginning of one of his sayings about charity, the virtue that most characterized him. It is worth reading up close: it is the simplest way to understand why the people of Catania are still fond of him.
Dusmet was born in Palermo in 1818, to a noble family, and as a boy entered the Benedictine abbey of San Martino delle Scale. His father, who wanted to see him married, could not make him change course: he took his vows in 1840 and was ordained a priest the following year.
In 1854, during a cholera epidemic in Caltanissetta, he distinguished himself by caring for the sick of every condition, "as much in the humble hovel as in the palaces of the nobles." People began to say: "let us turn to Prior Dusmet, he is a saint."
In 1858 he became abbot of San Nicolò l'Arena, Catania's great monastery, and in 1862 he had to host Garibaldi there with his general staff. In 1866 the new Kingdom of Italy confiscated the convent, and he was the last to leave it.
In 1867 Pius IX appointed him archbishop of Catania. He faced eruptions, earthquakes, floods and epidemics. In 1886 the lava threatened Nicolosi and then stopped: the rescue was attributed to Saint Agatha and the cardinal's prayers. In 1889 Leo XIII made him a cardinal.
He died on April 4, 1894, so poor, it is told, that not even a sheet could be found to cover him. Since 1988 his body has rested in an urn beneath the altar of the Virgin, in the cathedral.