Rusca, Niccolò

RUSCA, NICCOLÒ. - Priest, b. in April 1560 at Bedano in the Canton of Ticino, then in the diocese of Como, of a noble family of Como, d. following torture at Thusis on 4 September 1618.

He studied at Pavia and at Rome, then at the Helvetic College recently established at Milan by St. Charles Borromeo. Ordained priest on 23 May 1587, he was parish priest of Sessa-Monteggio (Canton Ticino) from 1588 to 1590, when he became archpriest of Sondrio, then under the rule of the Grisons. A valiant theologian, he took part in various disputes with the Protestants, of which the most famous were those of Tirano (1595; v. Acta disputationis Tiraniensis, Como 1597) and of Piuro (1597). The zeal and firmness with which he carried out his apostolate earned him, along with the love of the Catholics, the ruthless hatred of the Calvinists. Falsely accused in 1608 of being the instigator of the attempted assassination of a "preacher," he had to leave the city, to which he returned six months later (Jan. 1609), acquitted by the court of Chur. In 1617 he opposed the opening of a Calvinist college at Sondrio: this was the occasion of violent Protestant agitation. R. was imprisoned (24 July), under alleged accusations, mostly of a political character, and tried by the famous Strafgericht of Thusis. He died after two days of torture. The cause for his beatification is in progress.

Renata Orazi Aunenda