Alberto Marvelli (1918-1946)

Blessed Alberto Marvelli is a great inspiration to thousands of Catholic youth  . . . .

Alberto Marvelli

Feast Day: October 6
Beatified: October 5, 2004

Just like Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati — the handsome, young Italian who died in the mid-1920s — Alberto Marvelli lived an extraordinarily holy life. From the time he was a teen, Marvelli would spend 30 minutes daily in spiritual reading. He prayed the rosary daily, attended Mass regularly, and confessed weekly.

His mother would often give away half of his dinner when a poor person appeared at their door. If he complained, she would shrug and say, “Jesus has come and He is hungry.”

During World War II, he raced around his heavily bombed town of Rimini, Italy, on his bicycle, seeking to aid the suffering, even giving people his own shoes, bike and bed. He even freed people from train cars bound for concentration camps. One night after the war, he turned his bike onto a poorly lit road only to be met head on by a speeding truck.

In 28 short years, Marvelli lived a life dedicated to becoming a saint. As John Paul II noted during Marvelli’s beatification ceremony, his life is a call for all of us to find our path to holiness in our family, our politics and our profession. May his example and intercession help us do just that!

BRIAN O’NEEL is a writer, husband and father of six living in southeast Pennsylvania. His latest book is “39 New Saints You Should Know.”