Gaspar Bertoni

The major work of Gaspare Bertoni is the foundation, on November 4, 1816, in Verona, of the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose members are called Stigmatines (Stimmatini). The community settled near a church dedicated to the stigmata of Saint Francis of Assisi and developed initially in a discreet manner, around a free school intended for the youth. Bertoni conceived his priests as "apostolic missionaries at the service of the bishops" (in obsequium Episcoporum): total availability to the local Church and its pastor constitutes the heart of the Stigmatine charism, nourished by an Ignatian and Thomistic spirituality. Before and after this foundation, Bertoni exercised intense pastoral activity: director of the oratory and formator of youth, he became from 1810 the spiritual director of the seminarians of Verona and accompanied several religious initiatives of his time. He notably provided spiritual aid to the Daughters of Charity founded by Saint Magdalene of Canossa, his fellow citizen. Recognized by Pius VII as an apostolic missionary, he placed his congregation at the service of preaching popular missions, education, and the sanctification of the clergy.

The spirituality of Gaspare Bertoni is rooted in a mysticism of ecclesial service: following Saint Paul and Saint Ignatius of Loyola, he made abandonment to God and availability to the Church the driving force of his holiness. His spiritual journal, the Memoriale Privato (1808-1813), bears witness to an intense interior life, marked by mystical experiences centered on the contemplation of the Passion of Christ. From 1812, his health deteriorated severely: he was afflicted by a chronic illness that would not leave him for his final forty-one years. A persistent infection in his leg forced him to undergo a very large number of surgical interventions—hagiographic sources mention approximately three hundred operations—endured without effective anesthesia. Far from distancing him from his ministry, this trial made him a sought-after spiritual director, advising and accompanying priests and the faithful from his bed of suffering. His patience, his charity, and his union with God in pain edified his contemporaries and forged his reputation for holiness, founded on the union with the crucified Christ whose name his congregation bears.

The beatification process for Gaspare Bertoni first recognized the heroic nature of his virtues: he was declared venerable on December 15, 1966, by Pope Paul VI. A miracle was subsequently recognized, attributed to his intercession: the healing of Father Giuseppe Anselmi, a Stigmatine priest suffering from serious ailments, which occurred in Brazil in 1937. On this basis, Paul VI beatified Bertoni on November 1, 1975, in St. Peter's Square in Rome. A second miracle, validated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, paved the way for canonization: Pope John Paul II inscribed Gaspare Bertoni in the catalogue of saints on November 1, 1989, in the Vatican Basilica. His liturgical feast is set for June 12, the anniversary of his death. The body of the saint is preserved and venerated in the Church of the Stigmata (chiesa delle Stimmate) in Verona, the cradle of his congregation.

The legacy of Saint Gaspare Bertoni continues above all in the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata that he founded. Initially modest during the lifetime of its founder, it subsequently developed and spread outside of Italy, notably to Brazil, the United States, and other countries, faithful to the vocation of apostolic missionaries at the service of the bishops as desired by Bertoni. The Stigmatine charism, summarized by the motto of service to the local Church (in obsequium Episcoporum), continues to inspire preaching, the education of youth, and the accompaniment of the clergy. Verona remains the heart of this devotion: the Church of the Stigmata, where the saint rests, is its principal place of pilgrimage, and the diocese honors in him one of the great spiritual figures of its history in the 19th century. His figure as a priest tried by illness, entirely given to the service of the Church during a period of political and religious upheaval, makes him a model of priestly fidelity and patience in trial.