St Thomas of Villanova

---

“Charity of St Thomas of Villanova” by Melchiorre Caffà and Ercole Ferrata, 1669
Basilica of St. Augustine in Campo Marzio
Piazza di Sant’Agostino
Rome, June 2019

“He was well known for his great personal austerity (he sold the straw mattress on which he slept in order to give money to the poor) and wore the same habit that he had received in the novitiate, mending it himself. Thomas was known as ‘father of the poor.’ His continual charitable efforts were untiring, especially towards orphans, poor women without a dowry, and the sick. He possessed, however, an intelligent notion of charity, so that while he was very charitable, he sought to obtain definitive and structural solutions to the problem of poverty; for example, giving work to the poor, thereby making his charity bear fruit.” (Thomas of Villanova, Wikipedia)