Giovanni Ferro

In 1938, Father Giovanni Ferro was transferred to Como to assume the direction of the prestigious Gallio Pontifical College, a historic educational institution managed by the Somascans. It was in this context, during the dark years of the Second World War and the Nazi occupation (1943-1945), that he performed an act of heroic courage. To shield him from racial persecution and deportation, he hid a fourteen-year-old Jewish student, Roberto Furcht, within the college, providing him with false identity papers and protecting him at the risk of his own life. This act of rescue remained secret for decades due to the religious's profound humility, and was only revealed much later by the beneficiary himself. In 1945, he was appointed pastor of the Santa Maria Maddalena parish in Genoa, while teaching pastoral theology at the city's major seminary. In 1948, he was elected Provincial Superior (Preposito Provinciale) of the Ligurian-Piedmontese province of the Somascan Fathers. On September 14, 1950, Pope Pius XII appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Reggio Calabria and Bishop of Bova. He received episcopal consecration on October 29, 1950, in Genoa at the hands of Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, and made his solemn entry into his diocese on December 2, 1950. Although not a native of Calabria, Msgr. Ferro identified immediately and totally with the local reality, sharing the joys and sufferings of his flock. During the terrible floods of 1951, he traveled through the most isolated and devastated villages of the Aspromonte and launched a national radio appeal for solidarity, supported by Pope Pius XII. In 1953, he canonically approved the congregation of the Veronica Sisters of the Holy Face (Suore Veroniche del Volto Santo), founded by Saint Gaetano Catanoso. From 1962 to 1965, he actively participated in the sessions of the Second Vatican Council. From 1967 to 1970, he also assumed the office of Apostolic Administrator of Oppido Mamertina. During the violent regionalist unrest of 1970 (the "Moti di Reggio"), he established himself as a peacemaker and reconciler, opening his archbishopric to the homeless and the wounded, and firmly opposing organized crime.

The reputation for holiness of Archbishop Giovanni Ferro, already very strong during his lifetime, prompted the Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova to introduce his cause for beatification. On April 18, 2008, the anniversary of his death, the Holy See granted the Nulla Osta for the opening of the diocesan phase of the inquiry. This took place officially from May 21, 2008, to September 29, 2011. At the conclusion of this inquiry, he was declared a Servant of God. The Positio, a document gathering testimonies and evidence of the heroic nature of his virtues, was then transmitted to Rome to be examined by the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints.

On July 5, 2019, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of the theological virtues (faith, hope, charity) and cardinal virtues of Giovanni Ferro, thus officially proclaiming him Venerable. His cause for beatification is currently underway, awaiting the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession.

The spirituality of Archbishop Giovanni Ferro is entirely summarized in his episcopal motto: "Omnia in caritate" ("Let all that you do be done in love"), taken from the first epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor 16:14). Faithful to the charism of Saint Jerome Emiliani, founder of the Somascans, he manifested a constant attention to the education of youth and a preferential love for the poor and the excluded, making himself "poor among the poor." His legacy of civil courage and universal charity received major recognition in March 2026: the association for the Garden of the Righteous of Milan, in collaboration with the Gariwo Foundation, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, and the Municipality of Milan, proclaimed him a "Giusto per la Società Civile" (Righteous for Civil Society) for having saved Roberto Furcht from Nazi deportation. A tree was planted in his honor on March 11, 2026, at Monte Stella in Milan. His mortal remains rest in the Cathedral of Reggio Calabria, in the second chapel of the right side aisle, surmounted by a bronze monument erected by the piety of the faithful who continue to venerate him as the "holy bishop."