A little-known Italian saint is memorialized in Holy Saviour Church in Norristown with an oddly-ornamented statue. Rev. Gus Puleo explained why St. Calogero — called the “St. Patrick of Sicily” — is depicted with a deer. The Times Herald ran his account.

Fr. Puleo, Holy Saviour’s pastor, dove into the St. Calogero backstory while in Sciacca, Sicily.

Calogero was a fervent Christian youth growing up in a maritime town in Asia Minor. A pilgrimage brought him to Rome and eventually to Sicily.

He became a monk and shuttered himself away in a cave.

There, he expelled demons; accounts from the time record the mountains shaking with the cries of expelled evil forces.

Calogero eventually emerged from his self-imposed exile to minister in Sciacca, on the Sicilian coast.

His evangelism brought him the name “St. Patrick of Sicily.”

As he aged, he was no longer able to sustain himself.

From his cavern home, he befriended a doe. She ended up dying in Calogero’s arms, killed accidentally by a hunter.

He lived another 35 years before dying himself of old age.

But locals continued reporting area sightings of him.

The cave in which he lived is now a shrine.

More on St. Calogero and his fawn is at The Times Herald.

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St. Calorgero’s June 18 Feast Day is cause for much celebration in Sicily.