Venerable Giuseppe Di Donna

Giuseppe Di Donna (23 August 1901 – 2 January 1952) - in religious Giuseppe della Vergine - was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and professed member from the Trinitarian Order who served as the Bishop of Andria from 1940 until his death. Di Donna entered the Trinitarian ranks in his late childhood and studied for the priesthood in Rome while later working for over a decade in the missions in Madagascar for evangelization purposes. But in 1940 he was summoned back to his homeland when news broke that Pope Pius XII appointed him as a bishop. Di Donna carried out his duties with meticulous care to ensure the growth of his flock; he promoted the Azione Cattolica movement and advised his priests to hold frequent lessons in catechesis for people so as to have a better understanding of the faith. Di Donna died in 1952 due to disease and had been revered as a saint both in and after his life. The beatification process opened soon after in his old diocese and he was titled as a Servant of God; he became titled as Venerable in 2008 after Pope Benedict XVI confirmed that he had lived a model life of heroic virtue. Giuseppe Di Donna was born on 23 August 1901 in Rutigliano in Bari as the last of nine children to Domenico Di Donna (d. 07.02.1921) and Laura Santa Di Carlo (b. 1857). His mother had complications while pregnant with him and upon his baptism in the local parish consecrated him to the Blessed Mother to place him under her protection. In 1911 - in the Lenten season - he came into contact with a Trinitarian and desired from that point on to follow in his footsteps to become a Trinitarian himself. He became enthralled with the Trinitarian's habit and his red and blue cross. His older priest brother Giovanni Battista helped him to enter the Trinitarian-run Santa Lucia school in Palestrina in Rome. His father had opposed another of his sons becoming a priest but later relented.