Saint of the Week

Joseph Mary Tommasi's family were wealthy Sicilian nobility He was the son of the Duke of Palmero and Rosalia Traino. When their children were grown, both of his parents entered religious life, and four of his sisters became nuns. Joseph joined the Theatines on March 24, 1665. He studied at Messina, Ferrara, Modena, Rome, and Palmero and learned Greek, Ethiopic, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldaic, Hebrew, Italian, and Latin. He was ordained on December 25, 1673. He wrote scholarly treatises on the Psalms and on liturgy. In 1697, Pope Innocent XII called him to the Vatican where he worked for reforms among religious orders and continued his interest in theology and music and relief of the poor.

Stationed in Rome, he lived as a hermit but was chastised by his authorities for being over-scrupulous. He studied and wrote extensively on the liturgy, publishing several titles under the pen name of "Joseph Marie Carus". He became an examiner of the clergy under Pope Innocent XII.

He was the confessor to Cardinal Alboni, who was contemplating not accepting the honor of being elected as Pope. Joseph advised him it would be a mortal sin to refuse, so Albani became Pope Clement XI.

Joseph was named Cardinal by Clement XI and was the consultor of the Theatines.

Throughout his career, Joseph still enjoyed teaching catechism to children. He was reported to have predicted the date of his death.