The Holy Father Pope Francis on December 21, 2018, having consulted with His Eminence Giovanni Angelo Cardinal BECCIU the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, recognized the heroic virtue of the Servant of God Girolamo BIASI.
The Servant of God, Girolamo Maria BIASI, was born “Archangel” BIASI, on December 7, 1897, in Sfruz (Trento), Italy, which was then under Austro-Hungarian domination.
At twelve, in September of 1909, after elementary school, the Friars Minor Conventual of the Province of St. Anthony of Padua accepted Girolamo into their college in Camposampiero, Italy. On October 4, 1914, he was admitted into the novitiate. He professed his vows the following year and began high school. In 1916, at the height of World War I, he was transferred to the International College on Via San Teodoro in Rome. He continued his high school studies at the Lateran University and graduated in philosophy.
On December 8, 1918, he professed his solemn vows and enrolled in the Faculty of Theology at the Gregorian University. However, in the winter of 1919, he suffered his first episode of hemoptysis. He was ordained to the sub- deaconate on April 1, 1922, the diaconate on April 17, 1922, and the priesthood on July 16, 1922.
The following years were a continuous rotation between the friary and the hospital. In August of 1928, he made a pilgrimage to Lourdes. However, less than a year later, at 2:00 p.m., on June 20, 1929, he died, offering himself in a supreme act of faith and love to God, assisted by the hospital chaplain.
All of his family members attended his funeral, along with the friars and representatives from all the religious families and secular clergy in the town. He was buried in the priests’ tomb. In 1940, when the friars had a tomb of their own, they had his body transferred there [Biographia Documentata, pp. 115-118]. Finally, on December 8, 1987, his remains were placed in the church of the Antonian Sanctuaries in Camposampiero-Padua.
Friar Damian-Gheorghe PĂTRAŞCU
