MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Saint — Bl. Carlo Gnocchi

All Saints
Bl. Carlo Gnocchi
October 25, 1902 AD, San Colombano al Lambro, Italy — February 28, 1956 AD, Milan, Italy
Italian military chaplain; post-war care of war-mutilated children
Church of San Pietro in Sala, Milan, Italy — shrine, Italy
Feast
February 28
Canonized
Beatified October 25, 2009 by Cardinal Tettamanzi at Milan Cathedral
Life

Carlo Gnocchi was born on October 25, 1902 at San Colombano al Lambro. Ordained priest in 1925, Carlo served as school chaplain in Milan.

During World War II, Carlo served as military chaplain of the Alpini (Italian mountain troops) — including the disastrous 1942–1943 Russian Front campaign where Carlo survived the retreat from Stalingrad. During the retreat, Carlo famously carried the dying Alpini soldier's last words to the soldier's widowed mother in Italy.

In 1948, Carlo founded the Don Gnocchi Foundation at Milan — the Italian charitable foundation dedicated to the systematic care of war-mutilated Italian children (the children maimed by unexploded ordnance from the World War II Italian battlefield).

He died at Milan on February 28, 1956 at the age of 53. Beatified October 25, 2009.

Miracles & Phenomena

  • The Don Gnocchi Foundation

    Bl. Carlo Gnocchi's 1948 founding of the Don Gnocchi Foundation at Milan — established the 20th-century Italian post-war care of war-mutilated children. The Foundation extends to over 5,000 patients per year in multiple Italian rehabilitation centers.

Relics
  • Body
    Relics of Bl. Carlo Gnocchi
    Church of San Pietro in Sala, Milan, Italy — shrine

    His relics rest at the Church of San Pietro in Sala at Milan.

Iconography
  • Don Gnocchi with the war-mutilated children

    The mid-20th-century Italian military chaplain with the war-mutilated Italian children at the Don Gnocchi Foundation — the iconography of Catholic Italian post-war-childcare tradition.

Patronages
Don Gnocchi Foundation (Congregation founded 1948)Catholic Italian post-war war-mutilated children care traditionMilan and the Lombard Catholic tradition
All SaintsBack to Home