Francesco Pianzola (5 October 1881 - 4 June 1943) was an Italian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

who established the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculata, Queen of Peace. Pianzola was a preacher who administered to the poor and to children in their own homes; his order dealt with bringing the message of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

to the workers and to the poor. He was beatified in 2008; Cardinal

José Saraiva Martins José Saraiva Martins, C.M.F. GCC (born 6 January 1932) is a Portuguese Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 1998 to 2008. Born in Gagos de Jarmelo in Guarda, Portugal, to A ...

presided over the mass on behalf of

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

Life

Francesco Pianzola was born on 5 October 1881 in

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

as the son of farmers. He was a pious child who felt drawn to the concept of religious life; he commenced his studies for the priesthood in

Vigevano Vigevano (; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Avgevan) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pavia, Lombardy in northern Italy. A historic art town, it is also renowned for shoemaking and is one of the main centres of Lomellina, a rice-growing ...

where he completed his theological studies which would enable him to become a priest. Pianzola was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood on 16 March 1907 in Pavia under the bishop Pietro Berruti. He administered to the workers as well as those who were poor and he had a strong desire to preach the message of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

to all people. With a humble spirit he embarked on a quest to evangelize to the workers - he remembered his farmer roots and made an effort to preach to farmers that toiled in the fields. For the purpose of a passion of preaching he established a religious congregation in Mortara on 8 May 1919 in order to go to the poor and to the workers for evangelization as well as to bring them the love of

and His message. He became renowned for this earning him the affection of hundreds; he was known for his holiness and his death on 4 June 1943 saw him mourned across Pavia. He was hailed after his death as the "Apostle of Lomellina" and a protector of the farmers and workers.

Beatification

The beatification process commenced in

on 22 March 1983 in a local process that spanned from 4 June 1983 until 25 March 1990 - the process granted him the honorific title

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...

(the first stage in the process). The process saw the gathering of documents that would be used to support the cause. The validation of the process was given in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1992 and allowed for the

Positio In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint. Des ...

to be drawn up and sent to the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pa ...

in 1999. On 26 June 2006 he was proclaimed to be

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

after

recognized that Pianzola had lived a model Christian life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...

. The diocesan process for the miracle attributed to his intercession opened in

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

on 3 December 2001 and concluded on 20 September 2002; the process was validated in 2003 which would enable for the medical documentation to be evaluated in the next stage. Benedict XVI recognized the healing as being a miracle and delegated Cardinal

to preside over the beatification on 4 October 2008 in Pavia. The Mass was celebrated before a crowd of 6000 people. The assigned

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Roman Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Obse ...

of the cause is Tiziana Adriana Conterbia.

References

External links

Hagiography CircleSaints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pianzola, Francesco 1881 births 1943 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 20th-century venerated Christians Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI Italian beatified people Religious leaders from Pavia Founders of Catholic religious communities Venerated Catholics by Pope Benedict XVI 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests