Blessed Nicholas of Paglia (Puglia), O.P.
Friar, Priest, and First Disciple of Saint Dominic
1197 – 1256 | Feast Day: February 16
A Vocation Born in One Moment
Blessed Nicholas was born at Giovinazzo, near Bari, Italy, in 1197. While pursuing studies at Bologna, he was drawn to the Order by a sermon of Saint Dominic who personally gave him the habit and made him one of his travelling companions.
The encounter with Saint Dominic was decisive and immediate. The divine word, as it came from the lips of the founder of the Friars Preacher, made so strong an impression on Nicholas’s docile soul that he at once saw that his vocation was to a life in the Order of Preachers. Following the impulse of grace, immediately after the orator descended from the pulpit, the pious son threw himself at his feet, and with as much humility as earnestness begged to be received into the new religious institute.
This is the pattern of authentic vocation — not hesitation or delay, but immediate surrender to grace at the moment it strikes.
Formation and Early Promise
Dominic, having given the young man the habit then and there, sent him to a convent just built in Canosa, Province of Bari, which was afterwards destroyed by an earthquake.
While still a very young man, the fathers of the Roman Province elected Blessed Nicholas for their provincial. Despite his age and lack of experience, he filled the position with admirable prudence. Indeed, the gentleness of his rule combined with his good judgment to make it a pleasure to obey, whatever he commanded.
This is remarkable — a young man, barely trained in religious life, entrusted with the governance of an entire province, and succeeding through virtue rather than force.
A Fruitful Apostolate
As a Dominican priest, he obtained through his prayers and words the return of numerous sinners to the sacraments and the conversion of many Jews to the Catholic faith. He was particularly efficacious in his apostolic labors across the Italian regions of Bari and Apulia.
He was well-known for his preaching throughout the Roman Province and compiled a concordance of Sacred Scripture. This scholarly work, created by a man whose entire life was given to preaching and governance, shows that authentic learning is never separated from holiness.
The Gift of Contemplation at the End
Near the end of his life, he obtained permission to withdraw from his heretofore very active ministry in order to devote his remaining time fully to prayer, in preparation for his approaching death.
Death, Veneration, and Beatification
He died at Perugia in 1256. It is said that he foretold the day of his death. During life he had been regarded as a saint. Now the faithful began to seek his intercession before the throne of heaven as of one who was specially beloved of God.
This public veneration towards Christ’s faithful servant continued on through more than five centuries. Finally, Leo XII, who ascended the throne of Peter in 1823, after a mature examination into the facts of Father Nicholas Puglia’s life, and the devotion shown to him, permitted the Friars Preacher throughout the world to recite the divine office and say mass in his honor. He was beatified on 26 March 1828 at Saint Peter’s Basilica, by Pope Leo XII.