Venerable Teresio Olivelli

Teresio Olivelli (7 January 1916 – 12 January 1945) was an Italian Roman Catholic soldier during World War II and part of the Italian Resistance movement to Fascism and the Nazi regime. Olivelli graduated in law in Pavia in 1938 and went on to comment in papers on the legal and social issues of the time before he became a volunteer fighter for the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War and in World War II with a notable campaign fought in Russia. The war soured his views towards the Italian fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and his time in the resistance was marked with articles in a newspaper he founded dedicated to promoting the Christian message and attempting to improve upon aspects of fascism with a more Christian message. Olivelli's beatification cause started in 1988 under Pope John Paul II and he became titled as a Servant of God. The cause was first designed to demonstrate that Olivelli died because of hatred of his faith – thus beatification would be quicker – but disagreements led to a prolonged cause designed instead to prove Olivelli led a life of heroic virtue which Pope Francis confirmed on 14 December 2015. This confirmation allowed for the pope to name him as Venerable. Francis approved his beatification on 16 June 2017 and he was beatified on 3 February 2018 in Vigevano. Teresio Olivelli was born in 1916 in Como to Domenico Olivelli and Clelia Invernizzi. His maternal uncle was the priest Rocco Invernizzi – parish priest of Tremezzo – who served as Olivelli's spiritual and moral point of reference. He moved with his parents in 1926 to Pavia and was good at Latin when he studied there. He studied at Mortara and at Vigevano before transferring his studies to Pavia in 1934 where he graduated in law with honors in 1938 from the Ghislieri College. Each week he went to confession and to receive the Eucharist in the parish of San Lorenzo. It was around this time that he was a member of Catholic Action as well as the F.U.C.I.