Dr. Moscati

Giuseppe Moscati (1880–1927) did not live to see his fiftieth birthday, but he left an indelible mark on the memory of the whole of Naples, and his work earned him the nickname “the doctor of the poor”. He was a tireless researcher, a popular professor of medicine, and a renowned diagnostician. For him, medicine was a calling. “I can serve God very well as a doctor,” he once told his students when they asked if he had ever considered becoming a priest.

As a deeply devout doctor, he took a truly holistic interest in his patients; for him, it was a given that the spiritual and the physical aspects were intertwined and mutually influential. In addition to providing professional help, he did not hesitate to recommend a return to God and the sacraments to people – especially in situations where it was clear that medicine had reached its limits. He wrote to a young colleague: “Remember that you must care not only for the bodies but also for the tormented souls of the people who come to you for refuge. How much pain you will relieve more with advice and by descending to the level of the spirit than with an impersonal prescription with which you send them to the pharmacy!”

Pilgrims from all over the world continue to flock to his tomb in the Church of Gesù Nuovo in Naples, and the parish archives are filled with records of miraculous healings and conversions through his intercession. In 1987, Pope John Paul II added him to the list of saints.