SOON BLESSED Don Carlo Gnocchi, apostle of the maimed The Pope received this morning Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, has authorized the promulgation of the decrees. Blessed in the next there will be the Venerable Servant of God Carlo Gnocchi, a diocesan priest and founder of Pro Iuventute;
private the hearing granted December 22, 2008 to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary State
The figure of Don Carlo Gnocchi, the apostle of the maimed. Carlo Gnocchi was born in St. Columban al Lambro, near Milan, 25 October 1902 by his father Henry, stonemason, and mother Clementina, a dressmaker. At 2 years his father died. At 22 he was ordained priest. In 1940, with Italy's entry into World War II, he volunteered as a chaplain military Alpini Battalion 'Val Tagliamento' , participating in the campaign Greece. Part then to Russia as chaplain of the Mountain Division Tridentine ; the disastrous retreat of January 1943, which saw the death of many soldiers, it leads to a profound spiritual crisis . The bad experiences that provokes doubts and questions about the goodness of God in the dark Lord of history relies on learning to understand the salvific value of suffering of the innocent. And 'at that time that ages in him a desire to assist the orphans of his mountain, the maimed war victims of the bombings and weapons of war broke out between their hands and people with disabilities of all kinds.
Decorated with silver medal for military valor over the years Participates in the 1944-45 resistance also undergoing imprisonment . In 1947 he founded the institution 'Pro mutilated infants' which in 1953 changed its name to 'Pro Juventute Foundation'. Don Carlo Gnocchi was the "Don Bosco" in Milan. At his death on February 28, 1956, he wanted his corneas were explanted to give her two blind boys . It was the dawn of the culture of organ transplantation. "In a world like ours, withered and shaken - said Don Carlo Gnocchi - love you need to put oil on the gears of social relations and form nuclei of thought and moral strength not to be overwhelmed. "