BACCHER, PLACIDO. - Venerable, b. in Napoli on 5 Apr. 1781, of a family originating in that city (besides the added surname B., he also bore that of De Gasaro), d. there on 19 Oct. 1851. Imprisoned during the Neapolitan Republic, he saw his father exiled by its government and two brothers shot. Ordained priest in 1806, he became rector of the church of the «Gesù Vecchio», which he restored at his own expense, making it a centre of intense religious life.
A man of penance and extreme charity, he devoted himself especially to the apostolate of preaching and acquired wide renown in Napoli and throughout Italy. A friend of Bl. Francesco Saverio Maria Bianchi (v.) and of other eminent religious figures, he assisted Ven. Maria Cristina di Savoia at her death. He refused a bishopric and had the canonry conferred upon him by Cardinal Sforza Riario withdrawn. He was buried at the «Gesù Vecchio». In 1909 his cause of beatification was introduced (AAS, 1 [1909], pp. 498-501).