On Monday, October 27, 2025, a significant step was taken in the Cause for the canonization of Friar Egidio MEROLA: the official delivery of documents to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
The Postulator General of our Order, Friar Raimundo Valdo NOGUEIRA, visited the Dicastery accompanied by three officials from the Italian Province of St. Joseph of Cupertino [Abruzzo-Molise-Puglia], namely, the Vice-Postulator of the Province, Friar Donato GRILLI; the Minister Provincial, Friar Daniele Maria MAIORANO; and the Provincial Econom, Friar Nicola ROSA.
This act marks the official conclusion of the diocesan phase of the Cause, which ended in January. With the submission of the documents to the Dicastery, the Cause of Friar Egidio MEROLA now enters the phase of the canonization process that is carried out in Rome. At this stage, all of the documentation will be carefully examined and, with God’s grace, may lead to the Decree of Venerability being issued. The Church, in its wisdom, does this at its own pace.
Friar Egidio MEROLA (1891–1968) lived out his Franciscan vocation with extraordinary simplicity and profound union with God. A friar of the former Province of St. Nicholas and St. Angelo in Italy (Puglia), he spent almost his entire life in Copertino, Italy, lovingly dedicating himself to the most humble services in the community and transforming all his daily activities into prayer and offering.
Friar Egidio was a man of silence and real charity. He was always attentive to the poor and suffering. He was faithful to community prayer and fraternal life. Those who knew him remembered him as a peaceful, patient friar, full of Gospel goodness. Even today, the people of Copertino keep his memory alive and invoke his intercession as a witness of simple and luminous faith.
Going to the Dicastery to present the documents of our confrere was an event charged with deep emotion and gratitude. It was also an opportunity to recognize the valuable service that is carried out daily in these offices of the Holy See and, above all, to renew our desire to walk the path of holiness, following the clear example of Friar Egidio MEROLA.
Friar Donato GRILLI, Vice-Postulator
