Filippo Smaldone (27 July 1848 – 4 June 1923) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts.

[1][2] Smaldone was a gifted preacher known for his commitment to proper catechesis and to the care of orphans and the mute, which earned him civic recognition.

[3] Smaldone's sainthood cause commenced in 1964 and in 1995 he became titled as Venerable under Pope John Paul II who soon after beatified him in mid-1996.

[1] In 1885 he founded an institution for the deaf and for the mute at Lecce on 25 March 1855 with the assistance of Lorenzo Apicella and several nuns that he had under his care.

The canonization cause commenced in an informative process that opened in 1964 under Pope Paul VI and concluded its business sometime after this.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated this process in Rome on 23 May 1989 and received the Positio in 1989 which allowed for theologians to approve it on 3 February 1995 and the C.C.S.

Pope Benedict XVI approved this on 28 April 2006 and canonized Smaldone in Saint Peter's Square on 15 October 2006.