Secondo Pollo (2 January 1908 – 26 December 1941) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 ...

and a chaplain who served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He died during a skirmish in 1941 in which a bullet struck him while he attended to a wounded comrade. Pollo received beatification from

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 1998 during the latter's apostolic visit to

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, ...

Life

Secondo Pollo was born in 1908 in

. He had an intense love for the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

as a child and desired to become a

during that time. The

Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes , image = Signum Fidei.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = , abbreviation = FSC , nickname = Lasallians , named_after = , formation ...

oversaw his childhood education. At the age of eleven in 1919 he commenced his studies for the priesthood and remained there until the completion of his high school studies. He began his theological studies 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 ...

and in 1931 graduated in philosophical studies at the

Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas The Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas (PAST; la, Pontificia Academia Sancti Thomae Aquinati) is a pontifical academy established on 15 October 1879 by Pope Leo XIII. The academy is one of the pontifical academies housed along with ...

and in theological studies at the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

. Those around him considered him to be a model seminarian. He received the minor orders and the diaconate around the late 1920s or the earliest of the 1930s for he 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 ...

as a priest on 15 August 1931. He received his ordination from the Archbishop of Vercelli Giacomo Montanelli. After Pollo's ordination he was tasked with teaching seminarians and from 1936 until in 1940 moved seminaries. Furthermore was also made an archdiocesan assistant of the Italian section of

Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Ita ...

in September 1936. He also served as a prison chaplain. The outbreak of

saw him request to become a chaplain in the ranks of soldiers despite the slight vision impairment he had. Pollo was elevated as a lieutenant captain of the 3rd Battalion "Val Chisone" of the

6th Alpine Division Alpi Graie 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. His peers and superiors regarded Pollo as a different kind of individual who was capable of distinguishing himself and held him in high regard. On 26 December 1941 the battalion moved to

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

and then near

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

where he was struck when a bullet hit him as he tended to a wounded soldier. It hit his

femoral artery The femoral artery is a large artery in the thigh and the main arterial supply to the thigh and leg. The femoral artery gives off the deep femoral artery or profunda femoris artery and descends along the anteromedial part of the thigh in the fem ...

which led to him bleeding to death. As he bled he said: "Look after the others; they're worse than I am". A comrade recorded Pollo's last words he whispered: "I am going to

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

who is so good". Pollo bowed his head and died. He was buried and then reinterred in 1961 until he was placed in the

Vercelli Cathedral Vercelli Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Vercelli, ''Cattedrale di Sant'Eusebio'') is the principal church of the city of Vercelli in Piedmont, Italy, and the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Vercelli. It is dedicated to Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, the fir ...

in 1968.

Beatification

The beatification process commenced under

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

in an informative diocesan process that commenced in 1955 and concluded its work in 1972. Theologians declared his writings to be in line with the faith and issued a decree on 29 November 1974 to affirm that the team had consulted his writings and approved them. The process was made valid on 8 November 1985 in order for the boxes of documentation from the process to be investigated in Rome. The postulation submitted 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 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 1994 for assessment which resulted in Pollo being declared

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 ...

on 18 December 1997 after

recognized the fact that Pollo had lived a life of the

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 miracle needed for his beatification was investigated in the diocese of its origin and received validation from Roman officials on 17 March 1995. Full investigation into the miracle could not go ahead until Pollo was declared Venerable - this occurred in 1997. The medical board advising the C.C.S. approved it on 5 March 1998 while theologians voiced their approval also two weeks later on 20 March. The C.C.S. followed suit on 21 April 1998 and passed it to the pope for his approval around a week later. John Paul II presided over the beatification of Pollo during his apostolic visit to the town of Vercelli on 23 May 1998.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollo, Secondo 1908 births 1941 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Deaths from bleeding Deaths by firearm in Italy Italian beatified people People from Vercelli Italian military personnel killed in World War II Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests