Damião, Frei

Damião, Frei

 orig. Pio Gianotti

(born Nov. 5, 1898, Italy—died May 31, 1997, Recife, Pernambuco estado [“state”], Braz.) Italian-born Brazilian friar. He became a Capuchin friar at age 16 and later studied in Rome. In 1931 he was sent to Brazil, where he spent the rest of his life traveling in the poverty-stricken northeastern region. He soon developed a reputation as a miracle worker whose touch or prayers could relieve pain and heal disease. Doctrinally conservative, he was at odds with the region's left-wing priests, who supported liberation theology. After his death the bishop of Petrolina began the process of seeking Frei Damião's beatification.