DI NETTA, VITO MICHELE, venerable. — Born at Vallata (Avellino) on 26 February 1787, died on 3 December 1849. From the seminary of S. Angelo dei Lombardi, he entered the novitiate of the Redemptorists. As soon as he made his profession, on 29 January 1806 he was driven into exile by the Napoleonic troops; from there he returned faithfully to the convent and was ordained a priest on 30 March 1811 at Lacedonia. In October of the same year he went to Catanzaro and then to Tropea, where he remained, except for a three-year period spent at Ciorani as novice master, until his death, which occurred as he had foretold. In that city he formed a friendship with the philosopher Galluppi. Using the fruitful Alfonsian method, from October to June, for seven lustrums, he evangelized the abandoned populations scattered throughout the dioceses of Tropea and Nicotera, Mileto, Gerace, Oppido, Squillace, Reggio, and Cosenza, seeking solely the glory of God and the salvation of souls amid unheard-of sacrifices, and earning the title of apostle of Calabria. God made the apostolate of his indefatigable laborer fruitful and enduring through singular wonders.
By decree of 7 July 1935, Pius XI, proclaiming the heroic nature of his virtues, brought his beatification closer.