On the Franciscan calendar, today is the Feast Day of Blessed Claudio Granzatto. 

Born in Italy in 1900, his Baptismal name was Riccardo and he was the youngest of nine children in a poor family that worked the fields. 

At the age of nine, he lost his father and he and his family had to work even harder to survive. 

In 1915, during World War I, he was drafted into the army where he spent the next three years. 

When the war was over Riccardo went back to school and discovered he had a gift for art. 

At the urging of his older brother, Giovanni, and his parish priest, Fr. Vittorio, he went on to study in Venice and in 1929 graduated with honors after developing a special gift for religious art. 

Feeling called to religious life he entered the order of Friars Minor where he took the name Claudio. 

Upon entering, his parish priest wrote to his superiors telling them; “You are receiving not just an artist but a Saint.” Claudio made his final vows in 1936 but never felt called to become ordained. 

He spent his life in prayer and contemplation, producing numerous works of art, especially in the form of sculpture where he focused on Jesus and the lives of the Saints. 

Claudio’s inspiration came from his time in Adoration. Often he spent entire nights in front of The Blessed Sacrament. 

In 1945 he developed a brain tumor and died two years later on The Feast of The Assumption. 

Blessed Claudio Granzotto, please pray for us.