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Biography

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Vincent Romano, known in Italian as Vincenzo Romano, was a Roman Catholic diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Naples whose entire public ministry unfolded in his native town of Torre del Greco, a coastal community of sailors and coral fishers on the Bay of Naples at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. He was born there on 3 June 1751 to Nicola Romano and Maria Felice Orefice. Drawn to the priesthood from youth, he studied in Naples and was ordained on 10 June 1775. He then returned home and served at the parish church of Santa Croce. He was not a member of a religious order; his vocation was that of a secular priest living among ordinary working people. Contemporary and later accounts describe an austere personal life, strong devotion to the Eucharist and to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and close pastoral attention to the poor, the sick, and children, including the families of men who were often away at sea for long periods.

Romano became known for straightforward preaching, regular catechesis, and a willingness to share the simple conditions of his parishioners. He taught children not only the faith but also elementary learning, and he visited homes rather than remaining only in the church. Popular memory later called him a worker priest because he did not stand apart from manual labor or from the hardships of a maritime town. His ministry belonged to the ordinary round of parish life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: confessions, care of the dying, instruction of the young, and relief of those in want. That ordinary pattern was interrupted and then redefined by natural disaster.

On 15 June 1794 Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed much of Torre del Greco, including the parish church. Romano took a leading part in the spiritual and material reconstruction of the town. He encouraged the rebuilding of Santa Croce, a project that occupied many years, and he worked to support those who had lost houses and livelihoods. The eruption and its aftermath occupy a central place in every serious account of his life: they showed a parish priest remaining with his people, organizing relief, and keeping public worship and catechesis alive while the town was rebuilt. He continued in this work into old age.

He died in Torre del Greco on 20 December 1831 after a period of declining health. His remains are venerated in the Basilica of Santa Croce in that town, the church associated with his ministry and with the reconstruction after 1794. The cause for his canonization advanced in the twentieth century: he was beatified by Pope Paul VI on 17 November 1963 and canonized by Pope Francis on 14 October 2018. His liturgical feast is kept on 20 December. He is invoked as patron of Torre del Greco and is remembered in Catholic tradition as a model of the diocesan priest devoted to persistent, local pastoral care rather than to high office or to a religious congregation.

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