Today May 23

Today is the feast of St. John Baptist Rossi (1698-1764). This man was the eldest of 4 children of respectable middle-class Catholic parents. He distinguished himself in college -- the Roman College, one of the best in his particular country -- and he came to the notice of noblemen and prelates. He'd always been pious, and with his aptitude and their support, it was natural that he enter the priesthood. He undertook hospice work, something that had interested him since his student days, even opening new hospices on borrowed money, since he was a poor man. Although very intelligent and classically educated, he unhesitantly went among the cattle-drivers and teamsters who came every day to the Forum (and some to the hospice), befriended them, talked to them and eventually, once winning their trust, prepared them for and administered to them the sacraments. He then did the same among the many impoverished women and girls. He had many female platonic friends. It was for them that he opened a separate house behind his hospice of St. Galla in the city and named it for St. Aloysius Gonzaga, one of his special patrons.

He was a parish priest, and good one, but he wasn't so sure of himself in the area of confession -- to the point where he hadn't offered to do it. (And in those days there were so many priests assigned to a parish, not every one of them had to hear confessions.) That is, until a friend who visited him in the hospital where he was recovering from an illness convinced him to do it. Wise man, he was not too proud not to heed the advice of friends, and so it was that he became the most famous confessor in Castellana, Italy, then Cosmedin, then Rome. Folks so flocked to him when he was in the confessional that 2 successive popes excused him form his other duties so he could hear them all. He it was who said: "I used often to wonder what was the shortest road to heaven. It lies in guiding others thither through the confessional . . . What a power for good that can be!"

I think it's neat that when he got a substantial salary increase (in the form of a canonry), he gave it all up for a new organ -- and organist -- for his church! Which of our modern-day priests would do that? Well, John Baptist Rossi was a man of simple tastes: he lived in a tiny garret, and he wore the simplest, plainest clothes -- though he was always neat and clean. He was appointed to prison work, which he undertook joyfully, and he never refused a request to preach missions and in religious houses. This poor, simple, but great man had a huge funeral (though paid for by others), including a whole host of bishops, priests, nuns and devoted laymen. St. John Baptist Rossi, pray for us.