Biagio Conte, the lay missionary loved by all, died this morning in Palermo. He was 59 years old and was the protagonist of many battles in defense of the poor and indigent; in 1993 he had also founded the Hope and Charity Mission. He had been seriously ill for some time.
The son of building contractors, he dropped out of school at the age of 16 and started working early in his family's business, but due to a profound spiritual crisis he left in 1983, going to Florence. In May 1990 the choice to live as a hermit, retiring in the mountains of the Sicilian hinterland and subsequently making a journey entirely on foot towards the city of Assisi.
Back in Palermo, he intended to leave for Africa as a missionary but his city was in such a state of misery that he was convinced to stay by helping the homeless in the station first of all.
On 16 January 2014 , after years in which he was confined to a wheelchair due to crushed vertebrae during the exhausting efforts he underwent during his mission, he resumed walking after immersing himself in the waters of Lourdes.
In 2018, after the death of some homeless people in the streets of Palermo, in protest against poverty, he decided to sleep on the street.
A film entitled "Biagio" by the Palermo director Pasquale Scimeca was shot on his figure.
(Unioneonline/ss)
