Giovanni Fornasini

Don Giovanni Remo Fornasini (23 February 1915 – 13 October 1944) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, resistance member and patriot in the Province of Bologna. He was murdered by a German Nazi Waffen SS soldier and was posthumously awarded Italy's Gold Medal of Military Valour. He is being investigated by the Catholic Church towards his possible canonisation. His beatification was celebrated in Bologna on 26 September 2021.

Biography

An editorial comment on the sources The sources are fragmentary. None gives a complete account of Fornasini's life. Although they are broadly consistent, they sometimes differ in detail. Where they disagree, their varying accounts are set out below as numbered alternatives.

Early years Fornasini was born in Pianaccio, a frazione of the Italian comune Lizzano in Belvedere, in the then Province of Bologna, Kingdom of Italy. That seminary closed in 1932, and he transferred to the Archepiscopal Seminary of Bologna at Villa Revedin, and later to the Pontifical Seminary of the Region of Bologna. (3) A Nazi official tried to drag a girl away, but Fornasini faced him down.