He was born
Eufranio Desiderio at
Leonessa, a small town then in
Umbria, now in the
Lazio to Giovanni Desideri and Serafina Paolini. It is said that from a young age he showed a remarkably religious bent of mind. He was orphaned at the age of twelve. His uncle saw to his education, first in Viterbo, then at Spoleto. His uncle had planned a suitable marriage for him, but Eufranio fell sick of a fever in his sixteenth year, and upon his recovery, without consulting his guardian, joined the
Capuchin reform of the
Franciscan Order. He made his
novitiate at the
friary of the Carcerelle near
Assisi. He made his religious profession in January 1573, taking the name "Joseph", and continued his studies in
Lugnano in Teverina. He preached in small towns throughout
Umbria, Lazio and the Abruzzi, and had some success with the bandits around
Arquata del Tronto. As a friar he was remarkable for his great
abstinence. In 1599, the year before the
Jubilee year, he fasted the whole year by way of preparation for gaining the
indulgence.
Constantinople In 1587 he was sent by the
Minister General of his Order to
Constantinople to minister to the Christians held captive there. Arrived there he and his companions lodged in the Galata district in a derelict house of
Benedictine monks, actually the St. Benedict high school. He was very solicitous in ministering to the captive Christians in the
galleys of the
Ottoman Empire's navy. When plague broke out in the penal colonies, the Capuchins immediately tended to the sick and dying. Joseph became ill, but recovered. Every day he went into the city to preach, and he was at length thrown into prison and only released at the intervention of the
Venetian agent. Urged on by zeal he at last sought to enter the palace to speak with
Sultan Murad III, but he was seized and condemned to death. For three days he hung on the
gallows, held up by two hooks driven through his right hand and foot. Near death, on the evening of the third day, he was let down.
Return to Italy Returning to Italy in 1589, Joseph now took up the work of home missions in his native province, sometimes preaching six or seven times a day. In the Jubilee year of 1600 he gave the
Lenten
sermons at
Otricoli, a town through which crowds of
pilgrims passed on their way to Rome. Many of them being very poor, Joseph supplied them with food; he also washed their clothes and taught them catechism. At
Todi he cultivated with his own hands a garden, the produce of which was for the poor. He organised a
Monti di Pietà (a co-op for loans) and built a small hospice for travelers and pilgrims. Joseph died of cancer at
Amatrice in 1612. ==Veneration==