VINCENZO ROMANO, Venerable. - Born in Torre del Greco (Naples) on 3 June 1751, died there on 20 December 1831 after nearly 35 years of parish ministry.
He entered the Seminary of Naples in 1765 and attempted to be admitted to the Society of Jesus. Ordained priest in 1775, he exercised an intense spiritual and social ministry during political upheavals and numerous Vesuvian eruptions that severely tested his city. On 25 March 1895 Leo XIII declared the heroicity of his virtues, hoping that the secular clergy of Italy might have, in the not-too-distant future, a sublime example of a parish priest.
BIBL.: C. Balzano, Il ven. V. Greco, Napoli 1932.