Blessed Marco d’Aviano was an Italian Capuchin priest, renowned as a powerful preacher, miracle worker, and papal diplomat who played a key role in rallying Christian forces to defend Europe against the Ottoman Turks. He was known as the “Apostle of the Act of Perfect Contrition” and served as a trusted spiritual advisor to Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. At the age of 16, he attempted to leave home to preach martyrdom in Crete, but a stop at a Capuchin friary changed the cours