Venerable Giuseppe Ambrosoli

Giuseppe Ambrosoli (25 July 1923 – 27 March 1987) was an Italian Catholic priest and professed member from the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus. He served as a doctor and surgeon as well as being a philanthropist and educator in the missions in Uganda. Ambrosoli studied before World War II when he once risked his life to smuggle Jewish people into Switzerland before returning home to finish his studies in medicine prior to commencing his ecclesial studies. He joined the Comboni missionaries and was sent to Uganda where he became known as the "saint doctor" for his loving and compassionate treatment of all ill people whom he dedicated himself to. His cause for canonization opened in Uganda – though held also in Como – in 1999 and he became titled as a Servant of God. The confirmation of his life of heroic virtue led Pope Francis to name him as Venerable on 17 December 2015. Francis later confirmed a miracle attributed to him on 28 November 2019 which would enable for Ambrosoli to be beatified; it was celebrated in Kalongo on 20 November 2022. Giuseppe Ambrosoli was born in Ronago in 1923 as the seventh son to Giovanni Battista Ambrosoli and Palmira Valli (d. 1977). His paternal great-grandfather worked as a librarian. Ambrosoli studied first in Como and later under the Piarists in Genoa before returning to Como for his high school studies which he completed after his examinations in 1942. He joined the "Cenacle" which was a branch of the Azione Cattolica that the Franciscan Silvio Riva ran and Ambrosoli got the chance to get to know Riva who served as a spiritual guide for him and his religious formation. He studied medicine at the Milanese college but had to stop his studies due to World War II. In September 1943 he risked his own life pledging to save a large number of Jewish people in order to get them safe passage across the border to Switzerland to prevent them from ending up in concentration camps.