Saint Benito Menni

Benedict Menni, OH (11 March 1841 – 24 April 1914), born Angelo Ercole Menni Figini, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest. Menni was a professed member of the Order of the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God and he went on to establish a religious congregation of women known as the Sisters Hospitaller of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose ministry was based upon that of his own order. Menni worked for the elderly and those who were abandoned. He also worked and aided victims of polio and those with mental health problems. As part of his pastoral mission, he worked in Spain. He was canonized in 1999 after the recognition of two miracles attributed to his intercession. His order continues to flourish across the world in locations such as Spain and Italy. Angelo Ercole Menni Figini was born as the fifth of fifteen children to Luigi Menni and Luisa Figini on 11 March 1841 in Milan. He was baptized hours after he was born. As a child he was noted for his strength of spirit and for his intellectual abilities. His religious calling came when he was an adolescent. At the time he had a position at a bank and was faced with a request to falsify records. He refused and resigned his post. This gave him the opportunity to pursue his spiritual vocation. In 1858 Piedmontese and French troops confronted Austrian troops outside of Milan, and Menni volunteered to work as a stretcher-bearer to assist soldiers wounded at the battle of Magenta, transporting the wounded from Milan railway station to the nearby hospital. This brought him into contact with the Hospitallers of Saint John of God; he entered their novitiate in 1860 and took his vows as a member in 1864. He undertook his studies in philosophy and theology in Lodi and later in Rome. Upon their conclusion he was ordained to the priesthood in 1866, after which he assumed the name of "Benedict".