Vincent Strambi

Vincent Mary Strambi was born Vincenzo Strambi on 1 January 1745 in Civitavecchia in the Papal States, the only child of Giuseppe Strambi and Eleonora Gori. Of delicate constitution in childhood, he received an education that included study with the Franciscans before he began preparation for the diocesan priesthood. After a period of discernment he was drawn to the recently founded Passionist congregation and entered the novitiate at the Retreat of the Presentation on Monte Argentario in 1762. He made his religious profession in 1763 under the name Vincent Mary of Saint Paul and was ordained to the priesthood in Rome in December 1767.

In the following decades Strambi served the Passionists as a preacher of missions and retreats, a lecturer in theology, and a formator of younger religious. He gained a reputation for learning, eloquence, and interior life, and he wrote a biography of the congregation’s founder, Saint Paul of the Cross, which helped to spread Passionist spirituality. In 1801 Pope Pius VII appointed him Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino. Once consecrated he devoted himself to the pastoral care of the diocese, with particular attention to the formation of the clergy, catechesis of the faithful, and works of charity among the poor.

The Napoleonic occupation of the Papal States brought him into open conflict with the French authorities. He refused the oath of loyalty demanded of bishops, and in 1808 he was removed from his see and sent into exile. He spent the next years in northern Italy, including periods in Novara and Milan, until the collapse of Napoleonic rule permitted his return to Macerata in 1814. Restored to his diocese, he resumed reform and evangelization and became known as a prudent spiritual guide. Among those who sought his counsel were other leading figures of the Catholic restoration in Italy, including Saint Gaspar del Bufalo and Saint Vincent Pallotti.

In 1823, weakened by age and illness, Strambi resigned the government of his diocese. The newly elected Pope Leo XII, who held him in high esteem, summoned him to Rome to serve as an advisor and to reside at the Quirinal Palace. There he died on 1 January 1824, his seventy-ninth birthday. Popular devotion to him grew rapidly. He was beatified by Pope Pius XI on 26 April 1925 and canonized by Pope Pius XII on 11 June 1950.