Tommaso Reggio

Blessed Tommaso Reggio (9 January 1818 – 22 November 1901) an Italian Roman Catholic archbishop who served as the head of the Archdiocese of Genoa.

Pope John Paul II beatified him on 3 September 2000 after a miracle was attributed to him - the healing of a Chilean girl.

Life

Tommaso Reggio was born in Genoa in 1818 to the Marquis of Reggio and Angela Pareto. At the age of 20 he decided to become a priest and was ordained to the priesthood on 18 September 1841. At this time he said:

"I want to become a saint, cost what it may, living my life in accordance with the two cornerstones of Christianity: prayer and ascesis".^[1]

He helped found The Catholic Standard which was a Catholic newspaper. He was to later close the paper in 1874 after the papal declaration that Catholics could not vote. It also put to rest his hopes for establishing a political party based on the teachings of the faith.

He was named Bishop of Ventimiglia in 1877 by Pope Pius IX. The diocese was so poor, he had to travel on a mule. He founded the Sisters of Saint Martha in 1878, a congregation devoted to caring for the poor. He opened new parishes and also organized three synods and liturgical revival. In addition to this, he set up teaching programs across the diocese.

In 1877 he was also named Titular Bishop of Tanis.^[2]

Following an earthquake in 1887, he worked with the victims, and he ordered his priests to use all resources to help the displaced. He founded orphanages at Ventimiglia and Sanremo for those children who had lost their families in the quake.^[3]

In 1892 he asked Pope Leo XIII to relieve him of his duties, however the pope appointed him as the Archbishop of Genoa. He set up a network for immigrants. He served in this capacity until his death on the afternoon on 22 November 1901 while on a pilgrimage with members of his archdiocese.

Beatification

The cause of Reggio's beatification opened on 26 May 1983 and began on a diocesan level that spanned from 1983 to 1984; the validation of the process occurred on 23 November 1992. The Positio, which documented his life of heroic virtue, was assembled in two parts and submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1991 and 1994. Pope John Paul II declared him to be Venerable on 18 December 1997.

A miracle was discovered in Valparaiso in Chile and was investigated there in 1995, later to be validated on 18 October 1996. The pope approved the miracle on 21 December 1998 and beatified him at the Vatican on 3 September 2000.

External links

• Hagiography Circle

References

1. ↑ Biographical article, and the papal homily at his beatification.
2. ↑ Catholic Hierarchy
3. ↑ Patron Saints Index