Pacificus of Ceredano

Blessed Pacificus da Ceredano (1424 - 4 June 1482) - born Pacificus Ramati - was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor. Pope Benedict XIV approved his "cultus" and beatified him on 7 July 1745.

Pacificus Ramati was born in Novara in 1424. He was orphaned at some point in his childhood.

Ramati decided to become a monk in the Order of Saint Benedict at their San Lorenzo convent but opted against it and decided to become a Franciscan. He entered the Order of Friars Minor - their Observants convent of San Nazario - in Novara in 1445. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1452 and then served as a preacher in which field the Observants of that time were quite prominent. Pacificus also had a share in the preaching of the crusade against the Turks that his order undertook. He had received a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in the Kingdom of France.

The General Chapter of the order held in Ferrara - on 15 May 1481 - sent him as a commissioner to Sardinia to administer and inspect the Franciscan monasteries in that area where he later died on 4 June 1482; Pope Sixtus IV reinforced the request for Pacificus to go there. According to his wish his remains were brought to Cerano and were buried in the church attached to the Franciscan convent. His head was given to the parish church of that place as a relic.

Beatification

Pope Benedict XIV - on 7 July 1745 - approved his "cultus" and therefore beatified him as a subsequent result of this recognition.

He is known as the author of a dissertation written in Italian and named after him as the Summa Pacifica which elaborates on the proper method of hearing confessions. It was first printed at Milan in 1479 under the title: "Somma Pacifica o sia Trattato della Scienza di confessare". The work was also published in Latin at Venice on two occasions first in 1501 and then in 1513.