CAFARO, PAOLO, venerable. - Born at Cafari, near Cava, on 5 June 1707; died on 13 Aug. 1753 at Caposele. Ordained priest on 22 Sept. 1731, he became parish priest of S. Pietro at Sepi (Cava dei Tirreni) in 1735, and in 1741 entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. He served as master of novices, lecturer in dogmatic theology, prefect of students, and thereafter was almost always rector of a house. A great missionary, he was a master of the spiritual life (s. Alfonso and s. Gerardo Maiella were among his penitents). The cause of his beatification was introduced in 1908.
As a young parish priest he renewed his parish. He was then an untiring preacher and a contemplative soul, austere with himself, a shrewd director of souls, outspoken, aspiring to a solid holiness, unperturbed amid anguish and toil. He was accustomed to exhorting his confidants by often repeating: “One must perish in order to give pleasure to God. God desires fortitude from us, not tender-
ness.” S. Alfonso, guided by C. for more than a decade, bitterly mourned his loss and dictated an extensive biography of him, foreseeing his future beatification. S. Gerardo Maiella, received by C. into the Congregation, ecstatically saw his soul enter heaven in triumph.