Blessed Carlo Gnocchi

Carlo Gnocchi (25 October 1902 – 28 February 1956) was an Italian priest, educator and writer. He is venerated as a blessed by the Catholic Church. During World War II, he was a military chaplain of the Alpini, the elite mountain warfare soldiers of the Italian Army, and after the tragic experience of the war, he strove to ease the wounds of suffering and misery created by the war. Gnocchi was born in San Colombano al Lambro, a few miles from Lodi, to Enrico Gnocchi and Clementina Pasta, a seamstress. The youngest of three brothers, when he was age five, he lost his father in 1907, from silicosis, caused by the unhealthy job as a marble worker. After moving to Milan with family, he lost his two older brothers in a few years – Mario, in 1908, and Andrea, in 1915, from tuberculosis. He grew up in a very devout and fervent environment, in the village of Montesiro in Brianza, where he often went to his relatives because of poor health. There, he was approached by the priest Luigi Ghezzi, who helped him in his choice to enter seminary. He received his Holy Orders as priest in 1925 from Archbishop of Milan Eugenio Tosi, and the same year he celebrated his first Mass in Montesiro. Gnocchi's first passion, since the first years of his priesthood, was the upbringing and education of the youth, by getting them closer to the Catholic Church and the oratory. First, he was entrusted to the parish of Cernusco sul Naviglio and then in 1926, the densely populated San Pietro in Sala of Milan, he continued his vocation for years, creating a deep bond with his parishioners. His fame as an educator came to Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster who, in 1936, appointed him as spiritual director of the Gonzaga Institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools. At the end of the 1930s, Gnocchi was named chaplain of the second legion of Milan, composed of students of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and the Gonzaga Institute.