SARNELLI, MARIA GENNARO, venerable. — Preacher and ascetical writer, firstborn son of the barons of Ciorani, born in Naples on 12 September 1702, died there on 30 June 1744. Having been directed toward university studies, he became a lawyer. Later, after taking ecclesiastical orders, he attended the Collegio dei Cinesi founded by M. Ripa. Ordained a priest in 1732, he joined the Neapolitan Apostolic Missions, and in 1733 entered at Scala the Congregation founded by s. Alfonso M. de Liguori, of whom he was an indefatigable disciple. He lived almost always in Naples, devoting himself to the poor in the streets, the sick in hospitals, and the conversion of sinners.
A zealous social reformer, he undertook initiatives amid misunderstanding and sacrifice. He fought sentimentalism and formalism in Christian life, educating the people in the private and public meditation of eternal truths. Continuing the moral purification begun by s. Francesco de Geronimo, he fought, also on legal grounds, against unrestrained prostitution and brought about the intervention of King Carlo di Borbone, who in 1738 had the sinful women gathered in a separate quarter. He was then a pioneer of the League against blasphemy, mobilizing bishops and magistrates to eradicate insolent language. He accompanied the threefold campaign with preaching and books, of which the following still deserve to be read: Mondo santificato (1738), Mondo riformato (1739), Cristiano santificato (1739), Anima illuminata (1740), Ecclesiastico santificato (1741), etc. L'Anima desolata (1740) and la Discrezione degli spiriti (1741) are mystical in character. All his works are collected in a 14-volume collection (Naples 1848–51), some of them translated into other languages, such as Le glorie e grandezza della divina Madre (there 1739). He is buried in Naples, in the church of S. Antonio a Tarsia. Pio X proclaimed the heroicity of his virtues in 1906.
under Pio IX, who proceeded to the solemn beatification on 6 May 1860. His relics are venerated in the cathedral of Olmütz.