MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Saint — Bl. Gennaro Sarnelli, CSsR

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Bl. Gennaro Sarnelli, CSsR
September 12, 1702 AD, Ciorani, Kingdom of Naples — June 30, 1744 AD, Naples, Kingdom of Naples
Italian Redemptorist; anti-prostitution reformer; disciple of St. Alphonsus Liguori
Church of the Redemptorists, Ciorani, Salerno, Italy — his tomb; Redemptorist mother-house, Italy
Feast
June 30
Canonized
Beatified May 12, 1996 by Pope St. John Paul II
Life

Gennaro Maria Sarnelli was born on September 12, 1702 at Ciorani in the Kingdom of Naples. Educated as a lawyer at Naples, Gennaro undertook the religious vocation and was ordained priest in 1732.

In 1733, at Naples, Gennaro met St. Alphonsus Liguori (see his existing entry) and became one of the co-founders of the Redemptorist Congregation. From 1736, Gennaro undertook the Redemptorist popular-mission ministry across the Kingdom of Naples.

Gennaro became famous during his lifetime for the anti-prostitution reform ministry — personally organizing the rehabilitation of Neapolitan prostitutes, establishing the institutions for reformed prostitutes, and undertaking the public denunciation of the Neapolitan sex industry.

Gennaro composed multiple pastoral treatises — most famously 'L'Ecclesiastico Cristiano' ('The Christian Ecclesiastic') and 'La Vera Sposa' ('The True Bride'). He died at Naples on June 30, 1744 at the age of 41.

Miracles & Phenomena

  • The anti-prostitution reform ministry

    Bl. Gennaro Sarnelli's anti-prostitution reform ministry at Naples (1730s–1744) — personally organizing the rehabilitation of Neapolitan prostitutes, establishing the institutions for reformed prostitutes — established the 18th-century Italian Catholic anti-prostitution social-reform tradition.

Relics
  • Body
    Tomb of Bl. Gennaro Sarnelli
    Church of the Redemptorists, Ciorani, Salerno, Italy — Redemptorist mother-house

    His tomb at the Redemptorist mother-house at Ciorani.

Iconography
  • Gennaro rescuing the prostitutes of Naples

    The early-18th-century Neapolitan Redemptorist organizing the rehabilitation of Neapolitan prostitutes — the iconography of Catholic Italian anti-prostitution reform tradition.

Patronages
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) — co-founderCatholic anti-prostitution movementNaples and the Neapolitan Catholic tradition
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