Sebastian Maggi (1414–1496) was an Italian

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

and a professed member of the

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

. Maggi also served as the confessor to both

Girolamo Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, ; ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498), also referred to as Jerome Savonarola, was an ascetic Dominican friar from Ferrara and a preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He became known for his prophecies of civic ...

and

Catherine of Genoa Catherine of Genoa (Caterina Fieschi Adorno, 1447 – 15 September 1510) was an Italian Catholic saint and mystic, admired for her work among the sick and the poor and remembered because of various writings describing both these actions an ...

.Blessed Sebastian Maggi
(Acta Sanctorum)

Pope Clement XIII Pope Clement XIII (; ; 7 March 1693 – 2 February 1769), born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769. He was installed on 16 July 1758. ...

beatified him on 15 April 1760.

Life

Sebastian Maggi was born in

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

to nobles in 1414. He is related to Bishop Berardo Maggi who was also the Duke and Count of Brescia. Maggi began his work in 1429 when he joined the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius ...

. His intelligence was noticed and he later received a master's degree in theological studies. He rose through the ranks and became the superior of several religious Dominican houses. He practiced corporal mortification and was strict in discipline. He would often tell his subordinates: "When you have committed a fault, come to me, not as prior, but as your father. If you will not have me as a father, you will find me a severe judge."Dominican Saints 101: Bl. Sebastian Maggi
He appointed the monk

to the position of novice master and set that famous Florentine friar on his own path to fame. In his time he was regarded as one of the greatest preachers in the Italian state.

Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into t ...

chose Father Maggi to investigate revelations that Savonarola claimed were given to him directly from

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. Savonarola appealed the choice and believed that Sebastian - as Vicar-General of the Lombard Congregation - would be biased and try to take over his recently emancipated "

San Marco San Marco is one of the six sestiere (Venice), sestieri of Venice, lying in the heart of the city as the main place of Venice. San Marco also includes the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Although the district includes Piazza San Marco, Saint Mar ...

" facility in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. Alexander VI, however, had already decided to give the facility back to the Congregation, making Sebastian Savonarola's canonical superior. Michael de la Bedoyere, ''The Meddlesome Friar and the Wayward Pope'', p. 150-153 He died in 1496. He is buried at the Dominican " Santa Maria di Castello" complex in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. In 1963 his remains were still found to be incorrupt.

References

External links

Saints SQPN

Santi e Beati
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maggi, Sebastian 1414 births 1496 deaths 15th-century venerated Christians 15th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Beatifications by Pope Clement XIII Dominican beatified people Italian beatified people Italian Dominicans Religious leaders from Brescia Venerated Dominicans