St. Gaspar Bertoni
The saint of the day is St. Gaspar Bertoni, a renowned Italian preacher and spiritual director. He was born to a wealthy, pious family in Verona, Italy, in 1777. Following the death of his younger sister, Gaspar remained the only child. He had the benefit of an excellent education both at home and at St. Sebastian's school. When he made his First Communion at age 11, he received a vision and message that he was to enter the priesthood. He entered the seminary in 1796, when French troops began a 20-year occupation of northern Italy. Gaspar volunteered to help those who were wounded, ill or displaced. After his ordination in 1800, he helped to establish free schools for the poor. He also helped to organize a European movement to offer prayers for Pope Pius VII, who was imprisoned by Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1816, he founded the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He died 19 years later, in 1835, after years of fighting an infection in his right leg. He...