Blessed Giuseppe Girotti

Giuseppe Girotti, OP (19 July 1905 – 1 April 1945) was an Italian Dominican priest who was a biblical scholar and a professor of theology. During World War II, he worked to aid Jewish people amid the Nazi Holocaust. Girotti was arrested in 1944 and moved from prison to prison before being imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp, where he befriended Josef Beran and Carlo Manziana. Girotti was beatified on 26 April 2014 in Alba Cathedral after Pope Francis confirmed he had died as a martyr of the faith. Cardinal Severino Poletto celebrated the solemn Mass on the pope's behalf. Giuseppe Girotti was born on 19 July 1905 in Alba in the Province of Cuneo as the eldest of three children to Celso Girotti (born 1875) and Martina Proetto; his siblings that followed him were Giovanni and Michele. Girotti was baptized on 30 July. He began his studies in October 1911 and from 1911 to 1913 was under the ward of the teacher Ferrio. He received both his First Communion and Confirmation on 9 May 1912 from Bishop Giuseppe Re. In the summer of 1918 he witnessed a priest of the Order of Preachers give a sermon in Alba Cathedral and Girotti became enthralled to the point where he set his heart on becoming a priest himself. He approached the priest and expressed his desire to join; the priest convinced and encouraged him to follow this call as one from God. He began his studies for the priesthood in Chieri at a Dominican convent when he entered on 5 January 1919 and remained there for his education until 1922. On 26 September 1922, he was dispatched to Santa Maria della Quercia convent in Viterbo to continue his studies but spent a brief period of time in Fiesole. It was on 30 September 1922 that he was vested in the order's signature white habit. On 15 October 1923, he made his profession into his order at Viterbo.