Bl. Tommaso Acerbis

  Posted on May 3, 2020  by admin  No comments

Born: 1563 in Olera, Bergamo, Italy 

Died: 3 May 1631 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria of natural causes, buried in the crypt of the chapel of Our Lady at the local Capuchin church in Innsbruck

Beatified: 21 September 2013 by Pope Francis 

Feast: 3 May

Born to a poor family, the boy worked as a shepherd in his youth and received no schooling at all. Joined the Capuchin Friars Minor on 12 September 1580 at Verona, Italy where at age 17 he finally learned to read and write. Tommaso made his final profession on 5 July 1584 and served as a clerk in convents in Verona, Vicenza, and Rovereto until 1617. Outside the convent he visited the sick, helped the poor, and encouraged a love of the faith to anyone who would listen. When Lutheranism began to make inroads in the area, Tommaso spoke and wrote in defense of the Church; he didn’t confront, he didn’t preach blood and thunder, he simply spoke on his love ‘the impassioned Christ’ and the Church he founded – and it was persuasive.