Alessandro Dordi

From his ordination, the young priest was sent to the Polesine (Veneto), a region in North-East Italy severely affected by the catastrophic floods of 1951. He exercised his ministry there from 1954 to 1965, first in Taglio di Donada and then in Mea (diocese of Chioggia). On site, he spared no physical effort, traveling by bicycle to assist in material and spiritual reconstruction, while directing the San Giuseppe Operaio vocational school. In 1966, he was appointed chaplain for Italian emigrants in Switzerland, in Le Locle (canton of Neuchâtel). Anxious to fully share the condition of the workers he accompanied, he chose to become a worker-priest and worked in a local watchmaking factory until 1979. This experience strengthened his sensitivity to social issues and the dignity of labor. Desiring to dedicate himself to the mission ad gentes, he responded in 1980 to the call of Bishop Luis Bambarén, Bishop of Chimbote in Peru. He settled as a Fidei donum priest in the parish of Señor Crucificado in Santa. In this poor agricultural valley, he deployed intense pastoral and social activity: he launched rural development programs, created cooperatives, founded a center for the advancement of women (with the help of Caritas Spain), and rebuilt several churches and community centers (notably in Vinzos, Rinconada, and Cascajal).

At the beginning of the 1990s, Peru was going through a period of violent internal conflict marked by the terrorist actions of the Maoist movement Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso). The guerrillas considered the charitable and social action of the Church an obstacle to the Marxist revolution, as it alleviated poverty and pacified the populations. Father Sandro was aware of the danger but refused to abandon his parishioners. On August 9, 1991, two young Polish Conventual Franciscan missionaries whom he knew well, Fathers Michał Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strzałkowski, were murdered by the Shining Path in Pariacoto. Father Sandro knew that he too was threatened. On August 25, 1991, while returning from the village of Vinzos where he had celebrated Mass and administered baptisms, his vehicle was blocked by stones on the road leading to Rinconada. Two hooded and armed men intercepted him. They pushed aside the two catechists accompanying him (Gilberto Ávalos Tolentino and Orlando Orué Pantoja) and coldly shot the priest several times (in the face and chest). He died a martyr at the age of 60.

The cause for the beatification of Father Alessandro Dordi was opened jointly with that of the two Polish Franciscans in the diocese of Chimbote. The diocesan inquiry took place from August 9, 1996, to August 25, 2002. On February 3, 2015, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing his martyrdom in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith). The beatification ceremony was celebrated on December 5, 2015, at the Manuel Rivera Sánchez stadium in Chimbote, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis. Father Alessandro Dordi is the first Italian Fidei donum missionary priest to be beatified. His mortal remains rest today in the cemetery of his native village of Gromo San Marino in Italy.

The spirituality of Father Alessandro Dordi is characterized by a radical, simple, and unadorned faith, typical of his mountain origins. For him, the proclamation of the Gospel was inseparable from human advancement and the concrete service of the poorest. His journey as a worker-priest in Switzerland and as a builder in Peru testifies to his desire to share the daily life and sufferings of his flock. His legacy remains alive both in Italy and in Peru. In Porto Viro (Polesine), a social integration cooperative bears his name. In December 2025, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of their beatification, Pope Leo XIV addressed a message highlighting how the diversity of these three martyrs of Chimbote (two Polish Franciscans and one Italian diocesan priest) was transformed into a profound pastoral communion in the service of the most destitute.