Raffaele Dimiccoli

Appointed vicar at San Giacomo Maggiore, Father Raffaele dedicated himself to the youth. In 1924, he purchased an old mill to found the "Nuovo Oratorio San Filippo Neri," which became a center for education and a nursery for vocations (forming 32 priests and religious, including Father Ruggero Caputo, and 35 nuns). In 1928, he founded the "Casa degli angeli" for children, entrusted to the Franciscan Alcantarine Sisters. During the Second World War, he opened a nursery school to feed needy children. In 1948, he created the "Villaggio del Fanciullo" and became vicar general of the Archdiocese of Barletta.

Nicknamed the "Father of the poor and the suffering" or "the Director," Don Raffaele enjoyed an immense reputation for holiness. Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) himself testified to his holiness by asking pilgrims from Barletta why they came to him when they had a saint in their own home. Worn out by his labors and after a long illness, he died on April 5, 1956, in Barletta. His body, found incorrupt during a canonical recognition, rests in the church of his oratory.

The cause for beatification opened at the diocesan level in 1996 and closed in 1997. On June 27, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing his heroic virtues, conferring upon him the title of Venerable. His memory is also honored by Pope John Paul II, who blessed the first stone of the civil hospital of Barletta bearing his name in 1997, as well as that of a new oratory in 1999.

Don Raffaele's spiritual life was anchored in the Eucharist and Marian devotion. His spiritual testament expresses a profound humility, describing himself as a "vine branch that remained attached to its vital vine throughout his life." His legacy endures in Barletta through the San Filippo Neri oratory, which celebrated its centenary in 2024, and the city's major first-level hospital, which officially bears his name.