Pompilio Maria Pirrotti

Pompilio Maria Pirrotti (29 September 1710 – 15 July 1766), born Domenico Michele Giovan Battista, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Piarists. He operated across the Kingdom of Naples as a teacher and as a preacher and he received widespread criticism from detractors that led to his immediate expulsion from the kingdom at the behest of the King. He was later readmitted into the kingdom after public pressure.

Pirrotti assumed the name of Pompilio Maria of Saint Nicholas upon becoming a professed member of the order and assumed his deceased brother's name (Pompilio Maria) when he commenced his novitiate.

In 1890, Pope Leo XIII beatified him and Pope Pius XI proclaimed him to be a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on 19 March 1934. For his tireless work with the children of central Italy he is known as the “Apostle of the Abruzzi”.

Life Domenico Michele Giovan Battista Pirrotti was born in Montecalvo, Italy on 29 September 1710, the sixth of eleven children to the nobleman Girolamo Pirrotti and his wife Orsola Bozzuti - Girolamo was a Doctor of Law. Domenico was baptized the next day.

Despite the opposition of his parents, when he was sixteen he consulted with his confessor on his religious vocation and fled his parents' home. He traveled to Benevento in order to pursue a path in a religious order. His father wrote to him a moving letter explaining his position on the matter and asking for his son's forgiveness; Girolamo also gave Pirrotti his blessing for his son's future.

At the age of eighteen, he entered the Piarist order and assumed the name of "Pompilio Maria" in honor of his deceased brother of that name. The name 'Pompilio' derives from the Medieval Latin 'Pompilius,' meaning 'fifth born'. During his religious formation, Pompilio toured various Italian regions close to his hometown. He assumed the habit in the novitiate of Santa Maria di Caravaggio in Naples on 2 February 1727, and at the end of the first year of his novitiate, obtained a special dispensation allowing him not to proceed to the second; he made his solemn profession on 25 March 1728 in Brindisi and it was then that he changed his name to that of "Pompilio Maria of Saint Nicholas".

Pirrotti was sent to Chieti in order to continue his philosophical studies, but fell ill around this period. He believed that a change of climate would be to his benefit so was moved to Melfi in Potenza where he continued his studies. He later travelled for further studies to Turi in Bari in 1733 after recovering from his illness. It was there in Bari that he served as a teacher of literature. On 2 July 2006, a park in Campi Salentina was named in his honor. A "Pompiliano Year" was initiated in 2010 to commemorate the third centenary of his birth.

Sainthood The proceedings for sainthood commenced in a diocesan process in Leece in 1835 and formal assent to the cause was granted not long after in which Pirrotti was accorded with the title Servant of God. Another process opened sometime after with the same intent of collecting documentation and material for compiling a large dossier on his life and works which was later transferred to the Congregation of Rites.

On 17 November 1878 he was proclaimed to be Venerable after Pope Leo XIII recognized that the late priest had lived a model life of heroic virtue. The same pope celebrated his beatification on 26 January 1890 after he recognized two miracles attributed to Pirrotti. The pope later issued a decree allowing for the resumption of the cause on 4 December 1892.

Following the recognition of two other miracles Pope Pius XI canonized Pirrotti as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on 19 March 1934.