Nino Baglieri was born in Modica on 1 May 1951. After attending primary school he became an apprentice bricklayer at 17 years of age, and on 6 May 1968, he fell from a 17 metre high scaffolding. Admitted to the emergency ward, Nino was bitterly disappointed to understand that he was completely paralysed. Faced with a very dramatic situation his mother Giuseppina confiding in God, bravely made herself available to personally care for him for the rest of her life. thus began Nino's journey of suffering as he went from one hospital to another, but without improvement. Back in his home village in 1970, after the early days of visits from friends, ten long years of obscurity began for Nino, without leaving home, lonely, suffering and almost despairing.
On 24 March 1978, Good Friday, at four in the afternoon, a group of people who were part of Renewal in the Spirit prayed for him; Nino felt himself transformed. From that moment he accepted his Cross and said his 'yes' to the Lord. He began to read the Gospels and the Bible: He discovered the wonders of faith. Helping some children who were near by to do their homework, he learnt to write with his mouth. And thus he began to write his memoirs, letters to all kinds of people around the world, writing personal holy pictures for people who visited him. He began to write down telephone numbers and got into direct contact with sick people and his calm and convincing word calmed them down.
Thus began a constant flow of relationships that not only brought him out of his isolation, but led him to trestify to the Gospel of joy and hope. From 6 May 1982 onwards, Nino celebrated the anniversary of his Cross, He became a member of the Salesian Family as a Salesian Cooperator. On 31 August 2004 he made his perpetual profession with the Volunteers With Don Bosco (CDB). On 2 March 2007, at 8 a.m., Nino Baglieri, afer a lengthy time of suffering and trial, gave up his soul to God. After his death he was dressed in his running clothes, so that, as he said "on my last journey to God I can run to meet him."