Aurelio Bacciarini

Desirous of living a more radical life of evangelical poverty and being at the service of the most destitute, Aurelio Bacciarini entered the Congregation of the Servants of Charity (the Guanellians), founded by Saint Luigi Guanella, on October 8, 1906. He made his perpetual vows on March 24, 1908. In 1911, drawn to the contemplative life, he spent a brief period at the Trappist abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome, but he quickly realized that his true vocation was to actively serve the poor within his congregation. In 1912, he was appointed the first pastor of the new parish of the Basilica of San Giuseppe al Trionfale in Rome, a neighborhood then in full expansion and marked by great social misery. He devoted himself there without measure to the families of workers and brickmakers. During the Marsica earthquake in January 1915, he distinguished himself by his courageous aid to the victims alongside Don Guanella. After the death of Saint Luigi Guanella on October 24, 1915, Aurelio Bacciarini was tasked by the Holy See with leading the congregation on an interim basis, before being officially elected Superior General during the third general chapter, a role he held from 1921 to 1924. On January 12, 1917, Pope Benedict XV appointed him titular bishop of Daulia and apostolic administrator of Ticino (diocese of Lugano). He received episcopal consecration on January 21, 1917, in Rome at the hands of Cardinal Basilio Pompilj. The major work of his episcopate was the foundation, on January 21, 1926, of the Compagnia di Santa Teresa del Bambino Gesù (the Company of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus), a female secular institute of consecrated life. This foundation was born from his providential meeting on November 10, 1925, on the train returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, with Maria Motta (sister of Swiss Federal Councilor Giuseppe Motta). Maria Motta wished to enter an institute in Milan, but Msgr. Bacciarini convinced her to remain in Ticino to found a local work dedicated to supporting the pastoral and charitable activities of the diocese. Known as the "Teresine" (or "Teresine of Via Nassa," named after their historic headquarters in Lugano), the members of this institute live their consecration in the midst of the world, without a distinctive religious habit, acting as "leaven in the dough." The institute, approved as a secular institute of diocesan right in 1948, has developed over the decades and has notably established itself in Romania. At the same time, in 1926, Msgr. Bacciarini founded the Catholic daily newspaper Giornale del Popolo, intended to disseminate the Christian press and defend the faith against anticlerical currents. He also actively supported the creation of the Ticinese Christian-Social Union (OCST) and worked to reorganize the diocesan Catholic Action.

The reputation for holiness of Msgr. Bacciarini, already strong during his lifetime due to his pastoral charity and heroic patience in the face of illness, led to the opening of his cause for beatification. The diocesan phase of the process was introduced in Lugano in 1946 (or 1947) under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. After a period of slowing down, the cause was reactivated on March 27, 2006, by the Bishop of Lugano, Msgr. Pier Giacomo Grampa, following an unexplained healing attributed to his intercession. The documents from the diocesan inquiry were transmitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome for examination.

On March 15, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, officially conferring upon him the title of Venerable. For his beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle by the Holy See is required. The investigation into the alleged miracle is currently under review in Rome.

The spirituality of Aurelio Bacciarini was deeply marked by the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which earned him the title of "Apostle of the Sacred Heart" in his diocese. His episcopal motto, In omnibus caritas (Charity in all things), summarizes the orientation of his entire life. Bishop Bacciarini also experienced a true physical Way of the Cross. Afflicted by serious and painful chronic illnesses that marked his entire episcopate, he offered his sufferings for his diocese and for the Church. This exemplary resignation and patience in the face of pain led Pope Benedict XV (and later Pope Pius XI) to affectionately nickname him "the Job of the Catholic episcopate." On his deathbed, his final pastoral act, signed in 1935 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the Apostolic Administration of Lugano, was the solemn consecration of the canton of Ticino to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He passed away on June 27, 1935, at the Sant'Anna clinic in Sorengo, near Lugano. His body rests in the crypt of the sanctuary of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Lugano, a building whose construction he had personally encouraged. His spiritual and social legacy remains alive through the works he founded, in particular the Teresine Institute and the social commitment of Ticinese Catholics.