Stephen Bellesini

Stephen Bellesini was a Roman Catholic friar in the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine (O.S.A). He was born in Trento, Italy, on 25 November 1774, and died in Genazzano, Italy, on 2 February 1840.

Life Of the Italian aristocracy, Luigi Giuseppe Bellesini joined the Augustinians in 1790, taking the name Stefano, and made his profession on May 31, 1794. After studies in Rome and Bologna, he was forced to return to Trento during the government suppression of religious houses and completed his theological education there. Bellesini was ordained in 1797 and served primarily as a preacher and rector of the small chapel attached to the Order's monastery in Trento.

In 1810 the monastery in Trento was also ordered closed and Bellesini went to live at his brother's house where he lived as a secular priest. For a period, he was Novice Master for his Order, and in 1825 was transferred to Genazzano, home to the miraculous fresco of Our Lady of Good Counsel, for whom he had a great devotion. He was named parish priest in 1831.

Veneration He was beatified by Pope Pius X, on December 27, 1904, and the cause for his canonization was opened on 27 December 1904. His feast day is observed in the Catholic Church on February 3.

In Massachusetts is found the Blessed Stephen Bellesini OSA Academy, in collaboration with Merrimack College.