Blessed Tommaso Reggio

Tommaso Reggio (9 January 1818 - 22 November 1901) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Genoa from 1892 until his death. He was also the founder of the Sisters of Saint Martha. Reggio distinguished himself during an earthquake that struck his diocese in 1887. He tended to the injured in the rubble and led initiatives to direct diocesan resources towards the displaced and the injured; while in Genoa he collaborated with Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrini in tending to immigrants through a range of different pastoral initiatives. Reggio's cause for sainthood opened in 1983 though initiatives had been made prior to this to collect documents in relation to his life and episcopal tenure; he was named as Venerable in 1997 and the miraculous cure of a Chilean girl led to his beatification in Saint Peter's Square on 3 September 2000. Tommaso Reggio was born in Genoa on 9 January 1818 to Marquis Giovanni Giacomo Reggio and Angela Maria Pareto; he was baptized on 10 January in the archdiocesan cathedral of San Lorenzo. He made his First Communion and received his Confirmation on 10 April 1828 from the Bishop of Saluzzo Antonio Podestà. Reggio received his initial education at home from a private teacher and then his high school education in Genoa from the Somaschi Fathers and on 1 August 1838 received his Bachelor of Law from the Genoa college. On 24 March 1839 he decided to become a priest and underwent his philosophical and theological education in preparation for the priesthood. He received his ordination to the priesthood on 18 September 1841 after the conclusion of his ecclesial studies from Cardinal Placido Maria Tadini; he celebrated his first Mass in Gavi in Alessandria in the church of San Maurizio. On 15 July 1842, he graduated from Genoa College in theological studies and received his doctorate in those studies in 1843.