Massimo Rinaldi (24 September 1869 – 31 May 1941) was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Bishop of Rieti. He was a member of the Scalabrinians.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

proclaimed him to be

venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

on 19 December 2005.

Life

Massimo Rinaldi was born on 24 September 1869 in

Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabin ...

. He received the sacrament of

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an wikt:affirmation, affirma ...

on 20 August 1876. He commenced his studies for the priesthood in Rieti and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

in 1893. He exercised his pastoral work in Ornaro and

Greccio Greccio is an old hilltown and '' comune'' of the province of Rieti in the Italian region of Lazio, overhanging the Rieti valley on a spur of the Monti Sabini, a sub-range of the Apennines, about by road northwest of Rieti, the nearest large ...

in addition to Rieti where he was based. He served as his uncle's assistant from 1897 to 1900 in

Montefiascone Montefiascone is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Viterbo, in Lazio, central Italy. It stands on a hill on the southeast side of Lake Bolsena, about north of Rome. History The name of the city derives from that of the Falisci (''Mons ...

. Rinaldi became a Scalabrinian in 1900 and he set off for

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

for a trip to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He worked in Brazil until 1910 and returned home to take part in the General Chapter of Missionaries. In that, he was elected as the treasurer of the order and held that position until 1924. In 1924

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fr ...

he was elevated as the Bishop of Rieti. He declined but Pius XI ordered him to do so. He received

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

on 19 March 1925 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Upon his installation, he ushered in a time of profound changes for monasteries and religious houses. He was open to social issues and attempted to cater to the social concerns of his parishioners. Massimo Rinaldi died in 1941 in Rome. His incorrupt remains were transferred in 1966 to the Cathedral of Rieti.

Beatification process

The cause of beatification started on 29 August 1990 in Rieti and the work spanned from 1991 until 1997 when all the documentation was assembled as the

Positio In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint. Des ...

: two volumes on his life and his

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...

. The local process was validated on 20 November 1998 and 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, pa ...

received the Positio in 2002.

recognized Rinaldi's life of heroic virtue and proclaimed him to be

on 19 December 2005. A miracle attributed to his intercession was investigated and was validated on 30 November 2001. The medical board that works on causes in Rome met twice on 26 April 2007 and 12 December 2013 and voted that the healing was indeed a miracle.

References

External links

Hagiography CircleMassimo Rinaldi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rinaldi, Massimo 1869 births 1941 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians Venerated Catholics by Pope Benedict XVI People from Rieti Bishops of Rieti