EDICT

         On 6th November 2017, the Servant of God Don Gaetano Nicosia S.D.B. died in Hong Kong. Born in 1915 in San Giovanni la Punta, Archdiocese of Catania, Sicilia, Italy, in 1935 he came to China as a missionary. Having become a Salesian of Don Bosco in 1937, he continued his Salesian and priestly formation in Hong Kong and Macau, where he was ordained a priest at the St. Joseph Seminary Church in 1946. After 17 years of work in Salesian houses serving the youth and the faithful in Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China, in 1963 he was sent to take care of Hansenian patients near Ká-Hó, Coloane, Macau. He served them and other Hansenians for 47 years, at the same time also serving poor and abandoned children. Seriously injured in 2010, he was hospitalized in Hong Kong, assisted in particular by the Little Sisters of the Poor, in whose St. Mary's Home for the Aged he died on 6th November 2017, aged 102.

         As his reputation for sanctity and signs has grown over the years, the Postulator General of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Don Pierluigi Cameroni S.D.B. formally requested me on 24th January 2024 to begin the relevant Cause of Beatification and Canonization. After consulting my Curia and my neighbouring Brother Bishops, after obtaining from the Holy See, with the consent of Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau Yan S.J., on 11th June 2024 the transfer of competence for the Cause from the Bishop of Hong Kong (place of Don Gaetano Nicosia's death) to the Bishop of Macau (main place of Don Gaetano Nicosia's life and work) as well as the Nihil Obstat on 21st May 2025, with the present Edict I inform the ecclesial community about the request received from the above-named Postulator General and I invite all the faithful to communicate directly or to send to the Diocesan Tribunal of Macau (Paço Episcopal, C.P. 324, Largo da Sé, Macau, China) all information from which one can in some way deduce elements favorable or contrary to the reputation for sanctity of the aforementioned Servant of God Don Gaetano Nicosia.

         Furthermore, since it is necessary to collect, in accordance with the canonical provisions, all the writings attributed to Don Nicosia (diaries, letters or any other private writing) or in any way pertinent to the Cause, we order, with this edict, whoever is in possession of them, to return them with due promptness to the same Diocesan Tribunal, if they have not already been delivered to the Salesian Postulation. Those who would like to keep the originals, may present a copy, which will be duly authenticated.

         Finally, we establish that this edict will remain posted for a period of 6 months in every parish of the Diocese of Macau, that it will be published in the Diocesan Bulletin, in the Newsletter of the Salesians of Don Bosco, as well as in any place - with the consent of the relevant Ordinary - linked to the figure of the Servant of God Don Gaetano Nicosia, in particular the Diocese of Hong Kong, with the express permission of Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau Yan S.J., the Archdiocese of Cantania, with the express permission of Archbishop Luigi Renna, and the Patriarchate of Lisboa, with the express permission of D. Rui Manuel Sousa Valério S.M.M.

Macau, 16th July, 2025, Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

  + Stephen Lee Bun Sang

Bishop of Macau

Rev. Cyril Jerome Law, Jr.

Chancellor