Blessed Grimoaldo of the Purification

Grimoaldo of the Purification (4 May 1883 – 18 November 1902) – born Ferdinando Santamaria – was an Italian Roman Catholic clerical student from the Passionists. He had expressed his inclinations towards the religious life from his childhood when he served as an altar server and was exposed to the Passionist charism; but he did not join until 1899 once his father approved of his vocation, and he was professed in 1900. He then continued his studies – though this time for the priesthood – but died from meningitis before he could achieve this dream. Santamaria's reputation for holiness was well-noted in his hometown during his life and it increased after his death, while devotion to him soared in Rochester, New York once his widowed mother and sister immigrated there. Pope John Paul II presided over his beatification in 1995. Ferdinando Santamaria was born on 4 May 1883 as the eldest of five children to Pero Paulo Santamaria and Cecilia Ruscio (d.1933–34); he received his baptism on 5 May in the local parish church. His parents ran a small rope-making business and were a pious couple. He received his Confirmation in September 1883 at the Pontecorvo Cathedral from Cardinal Gaetano Aloisi Masella which was unusual at the time because he was not at the normal age for being confirmed; he made his First Communion at the age of eight. His education began in 1890 and the priest Antonio Roscia was his teacher. Santamaria served as an altar server in his childhood from the age of eight and was a member of the church choir while also being a member of the Immaculate Conception Association that Romano Xativa ran from the age of nine. One neighbor even testified that on one occasion he had seen Santamaria lifted from the floor while he reflected in silence. In 1850 the Passionists took possession of a convent in the area and he soon became familiar with them while attempting to replicate their lives of penance into his own.