Blessed Domenico Lentini

Domenico Lentini (20 November 1770 – 25 February 1828) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest. He was ordained in 1794 and was a life-long parish priest in his hometown of Potenza where he promoted Eucharistic devotion and worked alongside the poor of the area. He also fostered education and evangelization and often taught parishioners catechism and literature while making himself available to hear the confessions of penitents. The beatification process for Lentini opened in 1905 and he became titled Venerable in 1935. Pope John Paul II beatified Lentini on 12 October 1997. Domenico Lentini was born on 20 November 1770 in Lauria as the last of five children to Macario Lentini (a shoemaker; d. 1796) and Rosalia Vitarella of poor economic conditions. The Lentinis were of Sicilian origins and first appeared in the documents of notaries around 1500. He was baptized mere hours after his birth. His siblings (in order) were: His first two sisters Dominique and Rosa married as he did his brother Nicholas who would relocate to Fardella. His maternal uncle was the priest Domenico Vitarella. His sister Antoinette served as Lentini's housekeeper after he became a priest. In his childhood, he was vivacious and often ran to trees looking for birds. Lentini received his Confirmation on 16 June 1772. In 1785 he felt a call to become a priest and he commenced his ecclesial studies alongside Giuseppe Ielpo who entered just a few months prior to him. Ielpo would later become Lentini's confessor. He began his studies in Policastro (at Salerno) from 1785 to 1787 and had to transfer his studies to Lauria due to his poor economic condition. But his father expressed his happiness at his son's vocation and was present when his son was made a priest. Lentini received his ordination into the diaconate on 27 October 1793 in Mormanno from the Bishop of Cassano all'Jonio Giovanni Battista Coppola.