Francesco Maria Greco (26 July 1857 – 13 January 1931) 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 served in the Archdiocese of Cosenza. Along with Raffaela De Vincentis in 1894, he established the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts. Greco served as both a pastor and a professor who operated in

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

and opened a catechetical school and hospital service for the poor. The cause of beatification commenced several decades after his death in a diocesan process that granted him the title of

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 ...

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 ...

proclaimed him 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 ...

in 2004 after the recognition of his life of heroic virtue.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

approved a miracle attributed to him in 2016 which allowed for his beatification which was celebrated in Cosenza on 21 May 2016. Cardinal

Angelo Amato Angelo Amato, S.D.B. (born 8 June 1938) is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints between 2008 and 2018. He served as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of t ...

presided over the celebration on the behalf of the pontiff.

Life

Francesco Maria Greco was born in Acri in 1857 to Raffaele Greco and Concetta Pancaro as the second of five children; one brother was Filippo Greco. His father - a pharmacist - wanted Greco to work with him but the latter desired to follow a religious path and denied his father the chance to work with him. He commenced his studies in

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and 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 17 December 1881. He continued his studies and obtained a doctorate in theological studies in Naples on 22 August 1885. He began to teach seminarians in Cosenza as a professor. On 16 September 1887 he was appointed as the pastor of the San Nicolo parish in Acri where he organized the opening of a hospital dubbed "Caritas". He opened a catechetical school and a centre for adolescents in that parish on 6 July 1888. From 1892 until 1895 he served as a theological professor in Bisignano. In 1894, alongside Raffaele De Vincenti, the priest established the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts religious congregation to promote evangelization and promotion to the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...

. The order would spread in Europe to

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

while expanding as far as

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and in

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Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The

Archbishop of Cosenza The Italian Catholic archdiocese of Cosenza-Bisignano in Calabria has been a metropolitan see since 2001.

Camillo Sorgente approved the order on a local level on 17 February 1902 while

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 ...

would grant papal assent to the order following Greco's death on 7 July 1940. He died in 1931 of a severe case of bronchitis. His remains were exhumed on 19 May 1961 as part of the canonical process for his beatification.

Beatification process

The beatification process commenced in Cosenza in 1957 and it concluded its business on 31 October 1977; this process granted Greco the posthumous title

as the first stage in the sainthood process. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the process as being valid in 1990 and received 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 ...

in 1994 for further evaluation.

declared Greco to be

on 19 April 2004 after he had recognized that the late priest lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue. On 8 November 2002 a local process in Calabria commenced in order to investigate a potential miracle and closed almost a decade later on 17 November 2011. The Congregation approved the process on 1 June 2012. The miracle was approved in 2015 after both the medical board and theologians advising the Congregation granted their assent to the healing being a miracle. The current postulator of the cause is the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

Giovangiuseppe Califano. It was reported in 2016 that the beatification of Greco would receive papal approval and would be celebrated in Cosenza on 17 July 2016. The report suggested that the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Nicola Tenuta had appointed the day for the beatification should it be approved in time for preparations to commence. A report less than a month later confirmed that the diocese would celebrate the beatification sometime in May 2016 on the account of imminent papal approval of the miracle.

approved the miracle attributed to him in 2016 and this approval allowed for his beatification to take place on 21 May 2016, which was announced the same day news of his beatification was made public. Cardinal

presided over the celebration on the pope's behalf.

References

External links

Little Workers of the Sacred HeartsInstitute of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greco, Francesco Maria 1857 births 1931 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Beatifications by Pope Francis Deaths from bronchitis Founders of Catholic religious communities Italian beatified people People from Cosenza