The founder of the Pious Society of Missions (q. v.), born at Rome,
21 April, 1798; died there, 22 Jan., 1850. He lies buried in the church
of San Salvatore in Onda. He was descended from the noble families of
the Pallotti of Norcia and the De Rossi of Rome. His early studies were
made at the Pious Schools of San Pantaleone, whence he passed to the
Roman College. At the age of sixteen, he resolved to become a secular
priest, and on 16 May, 1820, he was ordained. He celebrated his first
Mass in the church of the Gesù in Frascati. On 25 July he became a
Doctor of Theology, and was soon made a substitute professor of theology
in the Roman Archigymnasium. He gave promise of being a distinguished
theologian, but decided to dedicate himself entirely to pastoral work.
Rome had in him a second Philip Neri. Hearing confessions and
preaching were his constant occupations. From morning until night he
could be seen hurrying along the streets of Rome to assist at the
bedside of the sick in the hospitals, to bring aid and comfort to the
poor in their miserable dwellings, or to preach to the unfortunates in
prison. Once he went so far as to disguise himself as an old woman in
order to reach the bedside of a dying young man, who had a pistol under
his pillow ready to kill the first priest who should approach him.
During the cholera plague in 1837, Pallotti constantly endangered his
life in ministering to the stricken. After a day spent in apostolic
labour he was accustomed to pass almost the whole night in prayer,
disciplining himself even to blood, and sleeping for a few hours on a
chair or on the bare floor. The most distinguished representatives of
the Roman aristocracy, bishops, cardinals, and even Popes Gregory XVI
and Pius IX honoured him, but the only advantage he took of their
friendship was to advocate the claims of the poor. Even as a young man,
he often returned home barefooted, after having given away half his
clothing in alms; and more than once was he known to have given away his
bed to the needy. Leo XIII, who spoke from his personal observations,
said he would not hesitate to consider him a saint. Shortly after his
death the preparatory examinations for his beatification began; in 1887
he was declared Venerable.
It was Venerable Pallotti who started in 1836 the special
observance at Rome of the Octave of the Epiphany. Since then the
celebration has been faithfully maintained. Pallotti's chief desire was
to make this observance a means of uniting the dissenting Oriental
Churches with Rome.
MELLIA, Vincent Pallotti (London); there is a biography in Italian by ORLANDE (Rome), and in German by the PALLOTTI FATHERS (Limburg).
John Vogel (Catholic Encyclopedia)
[note: He was canonized 20 January, 1963.]
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