Blessed Berardo dei Marsi (1079 – 3 November 1130) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Italian cardinal. He was proclaimed Blessed in 1802 as he was deemed to be holy and that miracles were performed through his intercession.

Biography

Berardo dei Marsi was born in 1079 to Berardo and Theodosia. He was the great-uncle of

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...

. As a child he studied with the canons of the cathedral of Santa Sabina dei Marsi and also studied at

Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...

from 1095 to 1102. He became the governor of

Campagna Campagna (Italian: ) is a small town and ''comune'' of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy. Its population is 17,148. Its old Latin name was Civitas Campaniae (City of Campagna). Campagna is located in one of the v ...

after

Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...

appointed him to that position. He also served as an administrator to Campagna at the behest of the pope. The pope also elevated him to the cardinalate in 1099 as a Cardinal-Deacon and he opted for the order of Cardinal-Priest sometime after. He was appointed as the Bishop of Marsi in 1113 and he proved to be a reformer in his diocese. He battled against

simony Simony () is the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things. It is named after Simon Magus, who is described in the Acts of the Apostles as having offered two disciples of Jesus payment in exchange for their empowering him to imp ...

and pushed for the idea of

clerical celibacy Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because the ...

. He died in 1130 and predicted he would die on this day. He gave all his possessions to the poor in his will. He was buried in the cathedral of Santa Sabina and his relics were moved to Santa Maria delle Grazie in 1631.

Beatification

On account of miracles attributed to him and to his personal holiness,

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

beatified him on 10 May 1802 and proclaimed him to be the patron of his diocese.

References

External links

Saints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsi, Berardo dei 1079 births 1130 deaths 12th-century Italian cardinals Italian beatified people 12th-century venerated Christians Venerated Catholics Beatifications by Pope Pius VII