Joseph Marello

Giuseppe Marello (known as Joseph Marello in English; 26 December 1844 – 30 May 1895) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Acqui from 1889 until his death and was also the founder of the Oblates of Saint Joseph. Marello served as an aide to the Bishop of Asti prior to his episcopal appointment after Pope Leo XIII named him to head the Acqui diocese; the pope had known Marello while a cardinal when the pair participated in the First Vatican Council more than a decade before. He became a proponent for the poor and destitute and never stopped rendering his assistance to those who needed it the most; this was something he undertook even in his childhood. Bishop Marello issued several pastoral letters that dealt with a range of issues such as catechism and organized one big pastoral visitation to visit all parishes in his diocese.

Marello's cause for sainthood resulted in his beatification on 26 September 1993 in Asti and his canonization less than a decade later on 25 November 2001 in Saint Peter's Square.

Life Childhood and priesthood Giuseppe Marello was born on 26 December 1844 on Bakers' Street in Turin to Vincenzo Marello and Anna Maria Viale, and he was baptized just hours later in the Corpus Domini church. and a supplementary process was held in Acqui from 1941 to 1942. The formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius XII on 28 May 1948 and Marello became titled as a Servant of God. An apostolic process was later held from 10 October 1948 to 21 April 1951 while the Congregation for Rites validated all previous processes in Rome on 17 March 1954. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints (C.C.S.) and their consultants met and approved the cause on 25 October 1977. The confirmation of Marello's model life of heroic virtue allowed for Pope Paul VI to title the late bishop as Venerable on 12 May 1978.

For Marello to be beatified one miracle needed to be approved – a healing that science could not explain. One such case was investigated in the diocese of its origin and it later received C.C.S. validation prior to a panel of medical experts approving it on 17 December 1992. Theologians concurred with the verdict on 19 February 1993 as did the C.C.S. themselves on 16 March 1993. Pope John Paul II approved the miracle on 2 April 1993 and presided over Marello's beatification in Asti on 26 September 1993. The miracle in question was the 1944 cure of the seminarian Aldo Falconetti who suffered from tubercular meningitis.

The second miracle that was investigated took place in Peru and was the simultaneous healing of the children Alfredo and Isilia Chávez León who were both cured from bronchopneumonia. The C.C.S. validated the diocesan process on 12 November 1999 and a medical panel of experts approved it on 13 April 2000; theologians also approved it on 3 July 2000 as did the C.C.S. on 20 November 2000. John Paul II issued his final approval to this miracle on 18 December 2000 and in a 13 March 2001 consistory scheduled the date. John Paul II canonized Marello in Saint Peter's Square on 25 November 2001.