Giacomo Benefatti (died 19 November 1332) was an Italian Catholic priest and professed member of the Order of Preachers who ascended to the position of Bishop of Mantua.
[1][2] Benefatti became a close and personal friend of the fellow Dominican friar Cardinal Niccolò Boccasini who later ascended as Pope Benedict XI.
Bishop Benefatti became noted among the faithful of the diocese for his careful attention to poor people as well as for his ardent dedication to the ill during a period of plague epidemic.
[1] The pontiff held him in high esteem and in 1320 conferred episcopal consecration on Benefatti who had not received it at that point - but sources differ on whether it was in 1320 or back in 1304 after being appointed as bishop.
[2] Benefatti's beatification received ratification on 22 September 1859 once Pope Pius IX confirmed the local 'cultus' - or popular veneration - to the late bishop existed after his death and endured through the centuries.