Saint Giovanni Battista de Rossi
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Saint Giovanni Battista de' Rossi |
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|---|---|
| Priest | |
| Born |
22 February 1698 Voltaggio, Province of Alessandria, Piedmont, Duchy of Savoy |
| Died | 23 May 1764 (aged 66) Rome, Papal States |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 13 May 1860, Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States by Pope Pius IX |
| Canonized | 8 December 1881, Saint Peter's Basilica, Kingdom of Italy by Pope Leo XIII |
| Major shrine | Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista de' Rossi, Rome, Italy |
| Feast | 23 May |
| Attributes | |
| Patronage | Voltaggio |
Saint Giovanni Battista de' Rossi (22 February 1698 – 23 May 1764) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest. He served as the canon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin after his priest cousin died and he was an ultra-popular confessor despite his initial fears that his epileptic seizures could manifest in the booth. Rossi opened a hospice for homeless women not long after his ordination and he became known for his work with prisoners and ill people to whom he dedicated his entire ecclesial mission.
Rossi's canonization was celebrated on 8 December 1881. It had begun decades before but was suspended due to tensions in Europe that meant work could not be pursued regarding the cause; it was later revitalized and he was beatified in 1860.
Giovanni Battista de' Rossi was born at the beginning of 1698 in Voltaggio as the last of four children to Carlo de' Rossi and Francesca Anfosi who were poor but pious.
His initial education was under the care of the two priests Scipio Gaetano and Giuseppe Repetto who noted his potential and brilliance and held him as their favorite student. In 1708 he met a noble couple (Giovanni Scorza and Maria Battina Cambiasi) from Genoa after a Mass who took him in as a page after noting his potential - after his father approved - and he went to school there until 1711. But his father's sudden death in 1710 saw his mother plead with him to return home but Rossi was firm in his resolve to continue with his studies; his sole brother (older than him) died not long after their father. Rossi met two Capuchin friars at the Scorza residence one evening (he had begged to meet them) who thought well of him and offered to help him continue his studies. He had known the friars - or of them - for an uncle was one of them as he mentioned to them. At the suggestion of his cousin Lorenzo de' Rossi - the canon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin - he travelled to Rome in 1711 in order to commence his studies at the Collegium Romanum under the guidance of the Jesuits (he first had to receive his mother's permission). Rossi also studied at the Dominican College of Saint Thomas (underwent his philosophical and theological studies under them). It was around this time that he joined the "Ristretto of the Twelve Apostles". On one occasion he attended Mass but fainted and was found to have had suffered an epileptic seizure; this would be something he would have to grapple with for the remainder of his life and it meant he would not be able to attend classes sometimes due to the tiredness and the pain.
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