Giovanni Fornasini

After serving as vicar to the archpriest Don Giovanni Roda, Father Giovanni Fornasini was appointed parish priest of Sperticano on August 21, 1942, following the latter's death. He officially took possession of his parish on September 27, 1942. From the moment of his appointment, as the Second World War raged, he transformed his rectory into a true "charity workshop" (cantiere della carità). He welcomed numerous refugees and victims of the war, opened a school for children, and organized the distribution of food resources. Nicknamed the "Angel of Marzabotto" or the "Angel on a Bicycle," he tirelessly traveled the region on his bike to bring aid, comfort, and the sacraments to the sick, prisoners, and those in danger. He did not hesitate to intervene directly with German officers to secure the release of hostages or spare civilian lives. Although he was not an armed combatant, he provided spiritual and material support to the local population and remained close to the partisans of the Stella Rossa brigade to protect civilians. Between September 29 and October 5, 1944, Nazi SS troops perpetrated the terrible massacre of Marzabotto (or the Monte Sole massacre), murdering hundreds of innocent civilians. Defying prohibitions and the danger of death, Father Giovanni strove to give a Christian burial to the victims and to bless the bodies abandoned in Casaglia and Caprara. On the evening of October 12, 1944, he courageously stood up to German soldiers to protect young girls from the village. The following morning, October 13, 1944, he went to San Martino di Caprara to bless and bury the dead from the massacre, accompanied by an SS officer. He would never return. His body, savagely beaten and decapitated, was not found until the end of the war, on April 22, 1945, near the cemetery of San Martino di Caprara.

From the end of the war, the figure of Don Giovanni Fornasini emerged as a symbol of spiritual resistance and heroic charity. In 1950, the Italian Republic posthumously awarded him the Gold Medal of Military Valor. The beatification process was initiated by the Archdiocese of Bologna. After receiving the nihil obstat decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on August 19, 1998, Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, Archbishop of Bologna, officially opened the diocesan inquiry on October 18, 1998. This inquiry also concerned two other martyr priests of the region, Don Ferdinando Casagrande and Don Ubaldo Marchioni. The diocesan inquiry was closed on November 20, 2011. The validity of the inquiry was decreed by the Congregation on December 13, 2013. The Positio on his martyrdom was published in 2018. On January 21, 2021, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the martyrdom of Don Giovanni Fornasini, killed in hatred of the faith (in odium fidei).

The solemn celebration of the beatification took place on September 26, 2021, in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna. The Mass was presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis, in the presence of the Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, and numerous faithful.

During the ceremony, the urn containing his mortal remains was displayed, along with highly symbolic objects found on his body or linked to his ministry: his bicycle, his glasses, and his aspergillum. His remains now rest in the parish church of Marzabotto.

His liturgical memorial is set for October 13, the anniversary of his death.

The spirituality of Father Giovanni Fornasini is deeply Eucharistic and pastoral. He lived his priesthood as a total gift of self, refusing to abandon his flock in the midst of the storm of war. His attitude was directly inspired by the figure of the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.

During his beatification, Cardinal Semeraro described him as a "guardian angel of his parishioners" and a "prophet of inclusion, hated by the messengers of discrimination." His commitment to all those who suffered, without distinction of party or ideology, bears witness to a universal charity.

In October 2024, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of his death, a memorial dedicated to Father Giovanni Fornasini was inaugurated at the San Martino de Caprara cemetery, at the exact spot where his body was found, offering a space for meditation and prayer for peace.