Venerable Salvo D'Acquisto

Salvo Rosario Antonio D'Acquisto MOVM (15 October 1920 – 23 September 1943) was a member of the Italian Carabinieri during the Second World War. After Italy surrendered in September 1943 to the Allies, the Germans occupied most of the country. On 22 September, two German soldiers were killed and two others wounded when some boxes of abandoned munitions they were inspecting exploded. The Germans insisted it was sabotage, and the next day they rounded up 22 civilians to try to get them to name the saboteurs. The soldiers made the prisoners dig their own graves when they continued to assert their innocence. D'Acquisto, in charge of the local Carabinieri post, was taken to the prisoners. When it became clear that the Germans intended to kill them, D'Acquisto "confessed" to being solely responsible. He was executed by firing squad, but the civilians were released unharmed. D'Acquisto was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour. He was given the title Servant of God by Pope John Paul II. In 2025, Pope Francis declared him Venerable, the next stage on the path to canonization. Salvo D'Acquisto was born in Naples, the eldest of eight children, three of whom died as infants and another as a child. His father worked in a chemical factory. He left school at the age of 14, as was customary for working-class boys at the time. He volunteered to join the Carabinieri in 1939 and left for Libya the following year, a few months before the start of the Second World War. After being wounded in the leg, he remained with his division until he contracted malaria. He returned to Italy in 1942 to attend officer school. He graduated as a vice-sergeant and was assigned to an outpost in Torre in Pietra, a little rural centre on the Via Aurelia not far from Rome. On 25 July 1943, Benito Mussolini was overthrown, and the new Italian government negotiated secretly with the Allies to switch sides. An armistice was officially announced on 8 September.