Giovanni Battista de' Rossi
Saint Giovanni Battista de Rossi | |
|---|---|
| Confessor | |
| Born | 22 February 1698 Voltaggio, Province of Alessandria, Piedmont, Duchy of Savoy |
| Died | 23 May 1764 (aged 66) Rome, Papal States |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 13 May 1860, Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States by Pope Pius IX |
| Canonized | 8 December 1881, Saint Peter's Basilica, Kingdom of Italy by Pope Leo XIII |
| Major shrine | Church of San Giovanni Battista de' Rossi, Italy |
| Feast | 23 May |
| Attributes |
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Saint Giovanni Battista de' Rossi (22 February 1698 – 23 May 1764) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who is now venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.[1]
Life
Giovanni Battista de' Rossi was born in Voltaggio as one of four children of Carlo de' Rossi and Francesca Anfosi who were poor but pious parents.
At the suggestion of his uncle Lorenzo de Rossi - a canon - he travelled to Rome in order to commence his studies at the Collegium Romanum under the guidance of the Jesuits. Rossi also studied at the Dominican College of Saint Thomas (the future Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)).[2]
His desire to become a priest was strong but was hampered with his suffering of epileptic fits which would exclude one from the priesthood in normal circumstances. Nonetheless he was granted a special dispensation on 8 March 1721 and was ordained to the priesthood soon after. He worked in Rome on behalf of homeless women who wandered the streets while being careful to the needs of the sick. He also aided prisoners and workers and became an ultra-popular confessor. Rossi became known as a second Saint Philip Neri.
Owing to his selfless desire to assist the poor and downtrodden he soon succumbed to illness and died on 23 May 1764. His mortal remains were interred in the main altar of the church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome.[3]
Sainthood
Rossi was beatified after Pope Pius IX attributed to miracles to his intercession and presided over the celebration in Saint Peter's Basilica on 13 May 1860. The process had started almost nine decades prior to this but suffered brief setbacks due to the French Revolution and the ensuring Napoleonic Wars and Revolutions of 1848.
On 8 December 1881 the acknowledgement of two more miracles enabled Pope Leo XIII to canonize him as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
Legacy
A church was dedicated to Rossi in Rome in 1940 though construction was postponed for a while due to World War II. This church was consecrated on 22 May 1965 (with the saint's relics translated the following 23 May (his liturgical feast) from the Church of SS Trinità dei Pellegrini).
Elizabeth Herbert wrote a life of him in English.
References
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=g9cUepZUT-IC&pg=PA26 Accessed 14 June 2014; http://mercaba.org/Rialp/J/juan_bautista_de_rossi_san.htm Accessed 14 June 2014
- ^ *Catholic Encyclopedia: St. John Baptist de Rossi