PALLOTTI, VINCENZO, blessed. — Born in Rome on 21 April 1795, died there on 22 January 1850. Ordained a priest on 16 May 1818, he began his apostolic work in associations of young men. In 1827 he was appointed spiritual director of the Roman Seminary; later he was confessor in the Urban, Greek, and English colleges, and in others. He also devoted considerable attention to workers and to the direction of souls.
On 9 January 1835 he was inspired to consolidate, spread, and defend a threefold apostolate: 1) “of all Catholics for the propagation of the faith,” 2) to discern, preserve, and increase the faith among Catholics, 3) “of universal charity.” P. proposed a mobilization of all, priests and laity alike, and likewise a greater coordination of Catholic forces. Although Gregory XVI blessed the Pallottian plan on 11 June 1835, not a few difficulties prevented the ideas from being realized in a homogeneous and universal manner. Nevertheless, within a few years P. succeeded in establishing an institute of secular priests (v. SOCIETÀ DELL'APOSTOLATO CATTOLICO), one of nuns, and works of charity and education, particularly the Pia casa di carità for abandoned and endangered girls, which he entrusted to the generosity of benefactors and collaborators. He also instituted the solemn octave of the Epiphany. He formed and disseminated the idea of the Apostolate of Prayer. He worked especially for the propagation of the faith and for the return of the Eastern schismatics and Protestants. P.’s most deeply developed and lived idea was the Catholic apostolate. For this reason Pius XI defined him as the “forerunner of Catholic Action,” saying that P. “had divined the thing and even the name itself, founding the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, that is, of what constitutes the raison d’être of Catholic Action: the lay apostolate under hierarchical direction.” P. proclaimed Mary the protectress and model of the Catholic apostolate under the title of Queen of Apostles.
(courtesy of Fr. A. Faller)
(courtesy of Msgr. A. P. Frutac)
PALLU, FRANÇOIS — Portrait, Paris, Seminary of the Foreign Missions.
There, 1907; Month of May for Ecclesiastics, 5th ed., there [1942]; Resolutions and Aspirations, there 1942; Letters, there 1930; God, Infinite Love, there 1936; Biographical Memoirs, there 1937; Fundamental Rules, there 1944. Principal biographies: R. Mela, Life of V. P., London 1871; L. Vaccari, Compendium, Rome 1888; E. Weber, V. P., Apostle and Mystic, Limburg 1927; F. Amoroso, V. P., Rome 1950; J. Frank, V. P., Friedberg 1952. Studies: G. Ranocchini, V. P., Forerunner and Collaborator of Catholic Action, there 1943; id., V. P., Suggestions for Those Who Wish to Know Him, there 1947; Studia pallottiana, Meitingen 1952. Ansgario Faller