BURALI, PAOLO d'Arezzo, blessed. - Born at Itri in 1511. He took a doctorate in law at Bologna and practised as a lawyer at Naples with such success that, in 1550, he was appointed counsellor to the Council of S. Chiara; although reluctant, he held political and legal offices on behalf of the city. An austere, pious, charitable man, he felt a strong religious vocation and entered the Order of Theatine Regular Clerics in 1557, changing his baptismal name, Scipione, to Paolo. He refused offices and bishoprics, but in 1568 Pio V compelled him to accept the see of Piacenza, where he convened a synod in 1570 and carried out an active pastoral work, establishing schools, hospices, orphanages, and the seminary. In 1570 Pio V raised him to the cardinalate.
He was a member of the cardinalitial commission charged with implementing the decrees of the Council of Trent and reforming the clergy, and he worked to ensure observance of the bishops’ obligation of residence. In 1576 he was transferred to the archiepiscopal see of Naples, which he governed until his death on 17 June 1578. Such was his holiness of life that Filippo Neri mourned his death as a loss for all Christendom. He was beatified on 13 May 1772 by Clemente XIV. Feast day: 17 June.