Francesco Mottola (3 January 1901 – 29 June 1969) was an

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and the founder of the Secular Institute of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart.

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recognized his life of

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and declared the late priest to be

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on 17 December 2007. The miracle that is needed for his

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was approved on 3 October 2019 and he was originally to have been beatified on 30 May 2020. The

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subsequently delayed the announced date of beatification which was originally scheduled for 30 May 2020, however, it was later celebrated in Tropea on 10 October 2021.

Life

Francesco Mottola was born in

Tropea Tropea (; scn, label= Calabrian, Trupìa; la, Tropaea; grc, Τράπεια, Trápeia) is a municipality in the province of Vibo Valentia, in Calabria, Italy. Tropea is a seaside resort with sandy beaches, located on the Gulf of Saint Euphe ...

in 1901 to Antonio Mottola and Concetta Braghò. His mother committed suicide in 1913. He attended a grammar school in Tropea before he commenced his studies to become a

in 1911 and then moved in 1917 for further studies at

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...

. While in the seminary he visited the

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frequently and had a devotion to the Madonna di Romania. He studied theological and philosophical studies in Catanzaro 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 ...

to the priesthood on 5 April 1924. He involved himself in some form with the work of

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in the area while teaching theological subjects for a brief period of time. He was the rector in Tropea from 1929 until 1942 and was appointed as the

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of the cathedral in 1931. He organized small groups in 1935 and after that to establish charitable groups to assist others. He founded such homes for the disabled in Tropea and abroad in places like

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. He established the Secular Institute of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart around this time. His order received diocesan approval on 25 September 1968. Mottola suffered a severe illness in 1942 and continued to exercise his functions despite this great impediment that remained with him until his death a couple of decades later. He died in Tropea on 29 June 1969.

Beatification

The process for

commenced on 15 October 1981 and granted him the title of Servant of God. The process that commenced on a local level went from 1982 until 1988; the process was validated on 22 June 1990. 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 ...

was forwarded to

in 1994 and

declared him to be

on 17 December 2007 after he recognized his life of

. A miracle attributed to his intercession was investigated from 8 August 2012 to 5 April 2013 and was ratified on 7 March 2014 in order for the

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to begin their own evaluation. The miracle was approved on 3 October 2019 and the beatification was originally to have been celebrated on 30 May 2020. The

subsequently delayed the announced date of beatification but it was announced on 24 August 2021 that the beatification shall be celebrated on 10 October 2021.

References

External links

Hagiography CircleOblate Family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mottola, Francesco 1901 births 1969 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Beatifications by Pope Francis Founders of Catholic religious communities People from the Province of Vibo Valentia Venerated Catholics by Pope Benedict XVI