Giuseppe Benedetto Dusmet

Giuseppe Benedetto Dusmet (15 August 1818 – 4 April 1894) – born Giuseppe Dusmet – was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal who served as the Archbishop of Catania from 1867 until his death. He became professed into the Order of Saint Benedict where he took "Benedetto" as his religious name. He studied under the Benedictines prior to joining them and before serving as a professor in addition to prior and abbot. His elevation to the episcopate saw him distinguish himself in cholera epidemics when he tended to the ill while also remaining a strong advocate for the poor of his archdiocese. He remained a Benedictine and was known to continue to don the Benedictine habit instead of the red cardinal's regalia. An apostolic process was later held in Catania from 1949 to 1951. The Congregation for Rites validated the two processes in Rome in a decree issued on 17 March 1954 and the cause passed three bodies for approval. The first was the antepreparatory congregation which assessed and approved the cause on 1 March 1960 with a second preparatory one meeting on 15 December 1964. The last general committee met and approved the cause not long after on 18 May 1965.

The confirmation of his life of heroic virtue on 15 July 1965 led to Pope Paul VI naming Dusmet as Venerable.

Dusmet's beatification then depended on the papal confirmation of a miracle attributed to his intercession. One such case was investigated in Catania and sent to officials in Rome for additional assessment after the diocesan phase concluded on 7 December 1987. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the diocesan investigation and validated it on 5 March 1988 with medical experts approving (unanimous vote) the healing's miraculous nature on 1 June 1988. Theologians met (unanimous approval) on 1 July 1988 and the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. also affirmed the healing as a miracle on 19 July 1988.

Papal confirmation to this miracle came from Pope John Paul II on 1 September 1988 who presided over Dusmet's beatification in Saint Peter's Square on 25 September 1988.

Beatification miracle The miracle leading to his canonization was the cure of Salvatore Consoli (18.02.1886–16.11.1971) who fell from a staircase aged 51 and contracted high fevers and acute spinal pain. He was hospitalized two months later while a month after was found to have a serious condition in which there was partial destruction of the spine. Consoli's condition worsened but appeals were made to Dusmet for healing – the pain ceased and his fever disappeared with the spine restoring itself. Consoli died from stomach cancer decades after.