Saint Andrew Avellino

Lancelotto Avellino was born in 1521 in Castronuovo, in southern Italy, and became a lawyer for church courts in Naples. When he caught himself telling a small lie in court, he was so ashamed that he gave up law to serve God alone. In 1556 he joined the Theatines, taking the name Andrew, and became a wise reformer, preacher and spiritual guide, and a friend of Saint Charles Borromeo. On November 10, 1608, at 87, he was stricken while beginning Mass and died at the foot of the altar; he was canonized in 1712.

Because of the way he died, he is invoked against sudden death and strokes. He is a patron of Naples and Sicily, and his tomb is in the church of San Paolo Maggiore in Naples.