GIOSEPPE MARIA PIGNATELLI, Blessed. — Jesuit and first organizer of the restored Society of Jesus in Italy, b. at Saragossa of the Italian princely family of Monteleone on 27 Dec. 1737; d. at Rome on 15 Nov. 1811.
He entered the Society in 1753 and was ordained priest in 1762. He devoted himself with zeal to the apostolate at Saragossa, so much so that he was called the “father of the hanged” and the “father of the markets.” When the Jesuits were banished from Spain in 1767, though he might have remained on account of his family, he refused to abandon his brethren but led a group of 600 into exile, first to Civitavecchia, then to S. Bonifacio in Corsica, and thence to Ferrara, sustaining them especially with the help of his sister, the Countess of Acerra. When the Society was suppressed in 1773, Fr. Pignatelli retired with his brother Nicola, also a Jesuit, to Bologna, continuing his apostolate there. Then, in 1793, when the Duke Ferdinand of Parma, with the aid of the Jesuits from Russia, founded a new house for the Fathers in his dominions, Fr. Pignatelli was invited to join it, renewed his vows there, and in 1799 became master of novices at Colorno. In 1803 he was made Provincial of Italy with residence at Naples, and from 1806 at Rome. Under his direction the colleges at Rome, Orvieto, and Tivoli were revived, as well as some residences of the Fathers; he also cooperated in the return of his brethren to Sardinia. “A model of manly and robust holiness” (Pius XI), he was the link between the old and the new Society of Jesus. He was beatified on 21 May 1933. Feast, 28 Nov.