PAOLO CAFARO, Venerable. — Born at Cafari, near Cava, on 5 June 1707; died on 13 August 1753 at Caposele. Ordained priest on 22 September 1731, in 1735 he became parish priest of S. Pietro a Sepi (Cava dei Tirreni); in 1741 he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. He served as master of novices, lecturer in dogmatic theology, prefect of students, and was almost always rector of a house. A great missionary, he was a master of spiritual life (St Alphonsus and St Gerard Majella were among his penitents). His cause of beatification was introduced in 1908.
As a young parish priest he renewed his parish. He was thereafter an untiring preacher and a contemplative soul, austere with himself, a shrewd director of souls, forthright, striving for solid holiness, unshaken amid anxieties and toils. He was wont to spur on those who confided in him by often repeating: “One must die to give pleasure to God. Fortitude, not tenderness, is what God asks of us.” St Alphonsus, guided by C. for more than a decade, lamented his loss bitterly and wrote an extensive biography of him, foreseeing his future beatification. St Gerard Majella, accepted into the Congregation by C., saw his soul transported ecstatically into heaven.