Francesco Maria Greco (26 July 1857 – 13 January 1931) was an Italian

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

who served in the Archdiocese of Cosenza. Along with Raffaela De Vincentis in 1894, he established the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts. Greco served as both a pastor and a professor who operated in

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

and opened a catechetical school and hospital service for the poor. The cause of beatification commenced several decades after his death in a diocesan process that granted him the title of

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

proclaimed him to be

Venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

in 2004 after the recognition of his life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is the translation of a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs. The phrase is used by the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman a ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

approved a miracle attributed to him in 2016 which allowed for his beatification which was celebrated in Cosenza on 21 May 2016. Cardinal

Angelo Amato Angelo Amato, Salesians of Don Bosco, S.D.B. (8 June 1938 – 31 December 2024) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints between 2008 and 20 ...

presided over the celebration on the behalf of the pontiff.

Life

Francesco Maria Greco was born in Acri in 1857 to Raffaele Greco and Concetta Pancaro as the second of five children; one brother was Filippo Greco. His father - a pharmacist - wanted Greco to work with him but the latter desired to follow a religious path and denied his father the chance to work with him. He commenced his studies in

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood on 17 December 1881. He continued his studies and obtained a doctorate in theological studies in Naples on 22 August 1885. He began to teach seminarians in Cosenza as a professor. On 16 September 1887 he was appointed as the pastor of the San Nicolo parish in Acri where he organized the opening of a hospital dubbed "Caritas". He opened a catechetical school and a centre for adolescents in that parish on 6 July 1888. From 1892 until 1895 he served as a theological professor in Bisignano. In 1894, alongside Raffaele De Vincenti, the priest established the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts religious congregation to promote evangelization and promotion to the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

. The order would spread in Europe to

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

while expanding as far as

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Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and in

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Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The

Archbishop of Cosenza The Archdiocese of Cosenza-Bisignano () a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Calabria and has been a metropolitan see since 2001.

Camillo Sorgente approved the order on a local level on 17 February 1902 while

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

would grant papal assent to the order following Greco's death on 7 July 1940. He died in 1931 of a severe case of

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

. His remains were exhumed on 19 May 1961 as part of the canonical process for his beatification.

Beatification process

The beatification process commenced in Cosenza in 1957 and it concluded its business on 31 October 1977; this process granted Greco the posthumous title

as the first stage in the sainthood process. The

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

approved the process as being valid in 1990 and received the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

in 1994 for further evaluation.

declared Greco to be

on 19 April 2004 after he had recognized that the late priest lived a model Christian life of

. On 8 November 2002 a local process in Calabria commenced in order to investigate a potential miracle and closed almost a decade later on 17 November 2011. The Congregation approved the process on 1 June 2012. The miracle was approved in 2015 after both the medical board and theologians advising the Congregation granted their assent to the healing being a miracle. The current postulator of the cause is the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Giovangiuseppe Califano. It was reported in 2016 that the beatification of Greco would receive papal approval and would be celebrated in Cosenza on 17 July 2016. The report suggested that the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Nicola Tenuta had appointed the day for the beatification should it be approved in time for preparations to commence. A report less than a month later confirmed that the diocese would celebrate the beatification sometime in May 2016 on the account of imminent papal approval of the miracle.

approved the miracle attributed to him in 2016 and this approval allowed for his beatification to take place on 21 May 2016, which was announced the same day news of his beatification was made public. Cardinal

presided over the celebration on the pope's behalf.

References

External links

Little Workers of the Sacred HeartsInstitute of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greco, Francesco Maria 1857 births 1931 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Beatifications by Pope Francis Deaths from bronchitis Founders of Catholic religious communities Italian beatified people People from Cosenza People from Acri