Blessed Rolando Rivi, the 14-Year-Old Seminarian Martyr

Who was Blessed Rolando Rivi?

Blessed Rolando Rivi was a boy who wanted to be a priest and would not take off his cassock, even when it cost him his life. He was born on January 7, 1931, the second of three children in a family of sharecroppers at San Valentino di Castellarano, in the hills of Reggio Emilia, and baptized the next day in the parish church of Sts. Eleucadius and Valentine. In April 1945, at fourteen, he was seized by communist partisans, tortured for three days and shot in a wood near Monchio.

Pope Francis recognized his martyrdom in one of the first acts of his pontificate, on March 27, 2013, and he was beatified in Modena on October 5, 2013.

The life of Blessed Rolando

"Jesus, I want to be a priest"

Rolando grew up close to his parish and its priest, Don Olinto Marzocchini. He served Mass from the age of five, learned to play the organ and sing, and was confirmed on June 24, 1941. Cardinal Angelo Amato, who presided at his beatification, said that before the tabernacle he would say again and again: "Jesus, I want to be a priest." In 1942, at eleven, he entered the diocesan minor seminary at Marola and, as was the custom then, put on the cassock.

Home again, still in his cassock

In 1944 German soldiers occupied the seminary building and the boys were sent home. Rolando went back to San Valentino, kept up his studies and helped in the parish. The region was torn by violence, and some partisan bands of Marxist ideology attacked priests openly; that summer his own pastor was beaten and had to be moved for his safety. People warned Rolando that wearing the cassock was dangerous. The apostolic letter of beatification records his answer: "I cannot, I must not take off my cassock. I am not afraid; I am proud of it. I cannot hide. I belong to the Lord."

The martyrdom of Blessed Rolando Rivi

On Sunday, April 10, 1945, Rolando played the harmonium at Mass for the last time. Then he took his books to a small wood near his home to study. When he did not come home for lunch, his parents went looking and found only a note left in one of his books: "Don't look for him; he is coming with us partisans for a while."

He was taken to Piane di Monchio, across the border in the Diocese of Modena. There his captors stripped him of the cassock, accused him of spying, beat and mocked him. According to Cardinal Amato's homily, a later criminal trial found the accusations entirely false. On Friday afternoon, April 13, 1945, they led him to a freshly dug grave. He asked to pray, knelt down, and was shot twice. The cassock was hung up as a trophy under the porch of a nearby house. When Rolando's father came searching, one of the killers told him: "I killed him, but I am perfectly at peace."

His funeral was held on April 15, Good Shepherd Sunday.

Martyrdom, not miracle

Because he was killed in hatred of the faith, Rolando was beatified as a martyr, without the need for an approved miracle. The diocesan inquiry was validated in 2007; the theologians voted in favor on May 18, 2012, and the cardinals and bishops on January 8, 2013. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints also mentions reported healings attributed to his prayers; none has been formally approved.

In April 2018 the daughter of the man who shot Rolando publicly asked forgiveness of his surviving sister and family. Cardinal Amato asked the faithful to remember Rolando "with an attitude of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of human fraternity."

Why seminarians and altar servers ask his prayers

Rolando has no formal patronage given by the Church, but it is natural for seminarians to ask the prayers of the boy who would not hide his cassock, and for altar servers to turn to a boy who served Mass from the age of five. Cardinal Amato said at the beatification that Rolando speaks to the seminarians of Italy and the world, urging them to stay faithful to Jesus and to be proud of their priestly vocation. See more on our patron saints page.

Symbols of Blessed Rolando in art

Rolando lived in the age of photography, so his images follow his photograph: a slender boy with a gentle smile in a black cassock with a white collar and a wide-brimmed black clerical hat. The cassock itself is his symbol. Devotional images may add the martyr's palm or a book. In his home church, a simple marble stone bears his name and dates.

Feast day and shrine

We keep his memorial on May 29, the date set in the apostolic letter of beatification. He is buried in his home church of San Valentino, which has been made a diocesan shrine and draws thousands of young pilgrims; a small museum on his life stands beside it. See other feasts on our feast days page.

Praying with Blessed Rolando

We know of no traditional prayer to Blessed Rolando in English. Let us ask him, in our own words, to pray for seminarians and young people who are mocked for their faith, and for all who need the courage to forgive.

Blessed Rolando Rivi, pray for us.