Francesco Palliola, SJ (May 10, 1612 – January 29, 1648) was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary in Mindanao, Philippines. Due to his missionary work and faith healings, the Diocese of Dipolog opened a cause for martyrdom on January 6, 2016,[1][2][3] and was formally closed in September 2017 by Bishop Severo Caermare at the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral in Dipolog City.[4][5]
Francesco Palliola | |
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Born | Nola, Naples, Italy | 10 May 1612
Died | 29 January 1648 Ponot (now Jose Dalman), Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines | (aged 35)
The Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints has declared as valid the investigation into the beatification process for a 16th-century Jesuit missionary who served in Mindanao.[6][7]
Padre Francesco was born on 10 May 1612 in Nola, Naples, Italy.[7][8]
Palliola was on his way home from Sindangan to Dapitan while riding a horse when a certain bandit, a converted native named Tampilo, carrying a long bolo suddenly appeared, attacked, and beheaded him leading to his demise. The priest's body was then buried along the wide stretch of a beach at Sitio Tabang near the townsite and is still present today.[7][9]