Alfonso Ugolini

For decades, Alfonso humbly performed his duties as a sacristan at the church of San Giorgio. In May 1950, he joined the Secular Institute of the "Servi della Chiesa" (Servants of the Church), founded by Father Dino Torreggiani. His charitable action anticipated Caritas: he welcomed the most destitute (the poor, the homeless, former prisoners, nomads) and helped immigrants from southern Italy find housing and employment during the ceramic boom. He founded the Fraterno Aiuto Cristiano (F.A.C.) association and the local sub-section of UNITALSI in 1956, organizing more than twenty pilgrimages to Lourdes. Thanks to an unexpected win at the Totocalcio, which he attributed to Providence, he also financed the construction of the chapel of San Polo.

In 1972, the Bishop of Reggio Emilia, Msgr. Gilberto Baroni, discerned in Alfonso a late priestly vocation. Despite initial hesitations linked to his age and his lack of academic training, he was ordained a deacon and then a priest on September 7, 1973, at the age of 65. Having become "Don Alfonso," he dedicated himself fully to the ministry of reconciliation, spending long hours in the confessional of the San Giorgio church, and visited the sick daily at home or in the hospital. He passed away on October 25, 1999, in Sassuolo, at the age of 91, in a reputation of holiness.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Alfonso Ugolini was opened at the diocesan level on November 4, 2010, by Bishop Adriano Caprioli, following the nihil obstat from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints obtained on March 12, 2010. The diocesan inquiry was closed on December 8, 2011, and validated by the Vatican on May 3, 2013. On November 23, 2020, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his theological and cardinal virtues, conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

Don Alfonso's spirituality was based on an absolute filial trust in the Virgin Mary, whom he considered his heavenly mother. His life of prayer was centered on Eucharistic adoration and the Rosary. His legacy remains alive in Sassuolo: his confessional at the church of San Giorgio remains a place of reflection, and his remains now rest in the Carandine chapel. The associations he founded, the F.A.C. and the UNITALSI sub-section, continue his work among the poor and the sick to this day.