Blessed John Baptist Rossi

He celebrated his first Mass on March 8, 1721, at the Roman College before the relics of Saint Aloysius Gonz saint Louis de Gonzague Jesuit saint, a model for the youth of the Work. aga, to whom he had a tender devotion. The fervor and piety with which he offered the holy sacrifice for the first time were maintained throughout his life: thus, it was a constant source of edification to attend his Mass.

The first care of the new priest was to model his external conduct on the decrees of the Council of Trent regarding the life and morals of the clergy. His clothes were clean, and nothing more. He kept his eyes lowered like a man who walks constantly in the presence of God. His conversations were always interspersed with some edifying word; of extreme reserve toward laypeople, and especially toward women, he only prolonged his interviews as much as propriety required. He related everything to the celebration of our divine mysteries and divided his day into two parts: preparation and thanksgiving. He recited the office at the canonical hours, and never did so except on his knees.

He had begun his life of apostolate at the Roman College, where he was one of the most fervent associates of the congregation established in that house. The director of this congregation had made useful use of him to bring about good among the students. God had given our Blessed all the qualities necessary to succeed: an open demeanor, grace in his speech, and an astonishing ease in bonding with all his fellow students. During vacation days, he had the talent of preventing idleness from ruining his young companions: he would lead them to churches, to hospitals, to spiritual conferences, create games, and invent recreations in which he actively took part.

After his promotion to the priesthood, his zeal grew further; the drovers and shepherds who brought livestock to the Rome market every week first attracted his attention: he would go early in the morning to the Campo-Vaccino and return late at night to bring a few good words to these men burdened by the heat Campo-Vaccino Former name of the Roman Forum where Rossi evangelized the shepherds. of the day, and to prepare them for the reception of the Sacraments. Until then, the girls who begged in Rome had no shelter for the night. Rossi founded a retreat house for them which still exists today and is known by the name of the Hospice of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Two other hospices, those of Saint Galla and the Trinity of Pilgrims, were also the object of his assiduous care.

Rossi's cousin, who had once called him to Rome, spoke to him one day about leaving him his canonry as an inheritance. "Even if I only had my Mass stipends to live on," the Blessed one replied, "it is more than enough." However, he allowed himself to be persuaded and became a canon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin Sainte-Marie in Cosmedin Collegiate church of which he was a canon. in 1737. He never wanted to live in a house that the deceased had given him: he dedicated its value to decorating the collegiate church of which he had become a canon and to establishing an income for the maintenance of the organ and the salary of the organist; as for himself, he lived in a poor attic that belonged to the Chapter.

Rossi had not yet wanted to devote himself to the ministry of confession, which had always frightened him. But a bishop who was a friend of his having encouraged him to try it in his diocese, he consented. Upon his return to Rome, he devoted himself entirely to this important and meritorious apostolate. The collegiate church of Santa Maria had been until then almost deserted; but it soon began to be frequented by crowds of penitents: they came not only from all the districts of Rome, but also from the countryside: he especially loved to guide the poor in hospitals and the disinherited of fortune, the peasants and the laborers. "The happy ones of this world," he said, "can very easily find confessors; but the unfortunate and the abandoned have more trouble with that." God allowed him to taste, in the exercise of his duties, consolations that were a first reward for his zeal. "I did not know the shortest route to go to paradise," he said one day in confidence to someone; "but now I know it; it is to lead others there through confession!... how much good one can do there!"

When Ben edict XIV Benoît XIV Pope who beatified Jerome Emiliani. had established catechisms for prison staff, it was he whom the Pontiff specially charged with them. The executioner was not a stranger to his care: he would hear his confession, visit him during his illnesses, and render him all the services that charity inspires. More than once he settled the disputes that broke out between this practitioner and his assistants: he jokingly called this settling matters of State. Although devoted by inclination to the least esteemed classes of society, he did not refuse his care to religious communities: it was thus that he consented to become the regular confessor of the Brothers of Charity. There are few quarters of Rome that have not witnessed his zeal and heard his voice: the streets surrounding the Bocca della Verità and the Piazza Montanara especially saw him at work for many long years. There as everywhere, to make God loved, to sanctify his brothers while sanctifying himself, such was the constant goal of his efforts. It was in these holy dispositions that death found him: he succumbed to a stroke at the age of sixty-six, on May 23, 1764. He was buried at the Hospital of the Trinity o f Pilgrims: he had died so poor that l'hôpital de la Trinité-des-Pèlerins Burial place of the saint. this hospital covered the costs of his funeral.

The holiness of the servant of God appeared so certain that Pius VI had his beatification process begun in 1781. Pius VII and Gregory XVI continued it. Piu s IX, Pie IX Pope who canonized Josaphat in 1867. gloriously reigning, completed it in 1859.

Cf. Bull of beatification; Life of the Blessed, by the postulator of the cause, Rome, 1790, and the Annalecta, vol. II passim.