Vincent Pallotti, Priest (RM)
Born in Rome, Italy, April 21, 1795; died January 22, 1850; canonized in 1963 by Pope John XXIII during Vatican Council II; feast day formerly on January 23. Vincent was the son of a prosperous grocer. His schoolmaster Don Ferri said of him, "He's a little saint but a bit thick-headed." He grew more proficient at his studies as he matured, however, and he was ordained at 23 (1817). He took a doctorate in theology and became an assistant professor at the Spaienza in Rome.
He was encouraged by his friendship with Saint Caspar del Bufalo to resign his post and pursue pastoral work. He was popular as a confessor, and acted in this capacity at several Roman colleges, including the Scots, the Irish, and the English. Unfortunately, he was disliked by the other clergy at the Neapolitan church to which he was appointed, and their malicious treatment of him inexplicably passed without comment from the authorities for ten years, and without complaint on his part.
Anticipating the teaching of Vatican II on an apostolic role for all Christians, in 1835, Vincent gathered together a group of clergy, nuns and other laymen, committed to conversion and social justice, in order to organize vocational schools with evening classes for poor boys, and an institute to teach better agricultural methods. The schools were intended to teach young people marketable skills such as shoe-making, tailoring, joining, and agriculture, and to instill in them a pride in their work. He worked from the premise that holiness is to be found not only in a religious life of prayer and silence, but also by filling any need in any part of life wherever one sees it. These policies resembled those of Saint John Bosco, who worked in northern Italy (Turin).
From this group would evolve the Pallotines, or the Society of Catholic Apostolate (called for a time the Pious Society of Missions and later the Society of Catholic Action), which had only a dozen members during his lifetime but has since grown and a corresponding society of women, the Pallottini Sisters, was established in 1843. The congregation has flourished in Italy, Brazil, Australia, and the United States, where it has specialized in care for the immigrants and, like their founder, in promoting ecumenical contacts with Eastern Orthodox Christians.
He wrote to a young professor, "You are not cut out for the silence and austerities of Trappists and hermits. Be holy in the world, in your social relationships, in your work and your leisure, in your teaching duties and your contacts with publicans and sinners. Holiness is simply to do God's will, always and everywhere."
Vincent's apostolic labors were matched only by his austerities, and in 1837, during an epidemic of cholera, he cared for others despite the danger to himself. He went to great lengths to fulfill the spiritual needs of the people, once even impersonating an old woman in order to approach a bedridden man who had warned he would shoot any priest who came near him. Vincent also performed exorcisms.
In 1836, he started the special observance of the Octave of Epiphany for the reunion of the Eastern Orthodox Church with Rome. Each day he would celebrate the Mysteries with a different rite; since 1847, this custom has been observed in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Valle.
In 1844, don Pallotti sent one of his most trusted priests to minister to the Italians in London, and since then his society has spread throughout the world. He was also especially interested in the English mission and had numerous English, Irish, and American friends. One of them, Walter Tempest, was with him when he was given shelter at the Irish College in Rome in 1849.
The people of Rome saw don Vincent as a 19th century version of Saint Philip Neri. Often he came home half-naked because he had given his clothes away. He would go to great lengths to reconcile sinners. Once he dressed up as an old woman in order to get to the bedside of a man who seriously threatened to shoot the first priest to come near him. Pallotti was in demand as an exorcist. God also granted him the gifts of supernatural knowledge and healing. Father Pallotti died of pleurisy at the age of 55.
It is interesting to note that when evidence was given during his beatification process, the vice rector of the Neapolitan church in Rome, who had been one of his severest persecutors, said: "Don Pallotti never gave the least grounds for the ill-treatment to which he was subjected. He always treated me with the greatest respect; he bared his head when he spoke to me, he even several times tried to kiss my hand." (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh, White).