Riccardo Pampuri

Saint Riccardo Pampuri was born as Erminio Filippo Pampuri on August 2, 1897, in Trivolzio, Italy, the tenth of eleven children. Orphaned young, he was raised by relatives, and his early desire for missionary priesthood gave way—because of fragile health—to a vocation of healing as a physician. While studying medicine in Pavia and Milan, he lived an active Catholic faith, joining charitable works and the Third Order of Saint Francis under the name “Antonio.” During World War I he served in field hospitals, and after graduating at the top of his class in 1921, he became a beloved doctor known for treating the poor without charge. Yet the Lord’s call drew him further: in 1927 he entered the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, taking the name “Riccardo,” and later directed a free dental clinic in Brescia. Worn down by illness contracted during wartime, he died in Milan on May 1, 1930. Canonized in 1989, he is venerated for his gentle charity and holiness in medicine, and is patron of Trivolzio. His feast day is May 1.