Blessed Guala de Roniis

Guala de Roniis (1180 - 3 September 1244) was an Italian catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Preachers as one of Dominic of Osma's earliest disciples. De Roniis was born as a noble and was appointed as the Bishop of Brescia after Dominic's death though also served as a popular papal legate that earned him popular and papal support. He resigned from his episcopal see to dedicate the remainder of his life to peaceful solitude though his reputation for personal holiness prompted countless people to seek him out for his counsel. The formal ratification to his local 'cultus' - or popular devotion to the late bishop - allowed for Pope Pius IX to confirm his beatification on 1 October 1868 while dispensing the requirement for miracles as cultus confirmation allows for. Guala de Roniis was born in 1180 in the Bergamo province and belonged to a famed Roman house. His parents oversaw his initial education and his excellent progress caused his parents to entertain great hopes for his future while neglecting to entertain the thought that perhaps God had a surprise in store for their son and the course of his life. He heard Dominic of Osma preach in 1219 and - like others - was so enchanted with Dominic's character that he was one of the first to seek him out for enrollment into his new Order of Preachers; he soon received the habit from Dominic himself and later received ordination as a priest. Dominic soon called the priest to Bologna in order to appoint him as one of four entrusted with the building of Saint Agnes' convent for Dominican nuns but the project suffered a brief failure with the opposition of the parents of Diana degli Andalò. This slight setback caused him to return for a brief period to Bergamo. He served as one of the saint's first disciples and received the latter's appointment as the first prior of the order in Brescia where Dominic founded a convent for the town.