Giovanni Ferro

Giovanni Ferro (13 November 1901 – 18 April 1992) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and professed member from the Somascans, who served as the Archbishop of Reggio Calabria from 1950 until his resignation in 1977.

Giovanni Ferro was born on 13 November 1901 to the shoemaker Giovanni Battista Ferro and Carlotta Borio.

He was baptized on 24 November in the local parish church.

His priest cousin Tagliaferri served as a model for Ferro in his childhood as did the local parish priest and the nun Matilde.

Ferro soon came to the decision to enter the priesthood and commenced his studies under the Somascan order on 5 August 1912, while he obtained a licentiate in 1917 in Milan after he had completed his high school education.

On 7 October 1919 he commenced his novitiate with the order, which ended on 8 October 1920 at Sant'Alessio all'Aventino in Rome where he made his initial profession.

The novice master Luigi Zambarelli held Ferro in high esteem and noted that he was "a little saint".

Ferro made his solemn profession into the order on 14 March 1924 at the Santa Maria Maddalena parish church in Genoa.

On 11 April 1925 he received his ordination to the priesthood in Chiavari from the local bishop Amedeo Casabona.

In 1925 he obtained excellent grades while at the Pontifical Gregorian University and obtained his licentiate in philosophical studies.

He later received his doctorate cum laude in theological studies in Turin on 27 May 1931.

In 1931 he was made the rector for the Collegio Trevisio in Casale Monferrato, until 1938 when he was transferred to become the rector for the Collegio Gallio in Como.

During World War II he helped those in need and tended to the poor and displaced.

Ferro also risked himself in hiding the Jew Roberto Furcht from the S.S. and offered him free lodging.

Following Benito Mussolini's death he kept hidden the late dictator's son Vittorio and the son-in-law of the late dictator's brother Arnaldo.

The pair remained with Ferro until 12 November 1945 and had lodged with him since that April in fear of retribution and partisan attacks.

On 1 October 1945 he was transferred to Genoa as the pastor for the Santa Maria Maddalena parish where he remained until 1950.

In the meantime on 18 August 1948 he was elected as the provincial superior for the Liguria region of his order and held that position until his episcopal appointment.

Ferro had served twice as the Bishop of Bova while managing his archdiocese, first from 1950 to 1960 and again from 1973 until 1977.

Ferro commenced his ecclesial studies in his late childhood and studied in Milan and Turin before completing his education in Rome.

He began teaching and serving as a pastor before ascending to some leadership positions within the Somascans.

This continued until he was appointed as an archbishop where he became renowned for his charitable outreach to the poor and downtrodden and for his consistent efforts in evangelization; these efforts increased following the Second Vatican Council when he sought to introduce renewal into his episcopal see.

Ferro was appointed in 1950 as the Archbishop of Reggio Calabria in addition to being named as the Bishop of Bova.

He received his episcopal consecration from Giuseppe Siri in the Genoa Cathedral on 29 October 1950 before being enthroned in his new archdiocese on 2 December and then in Bova on 8 December.

He served consecutive terms from 1950 until 1977 as the President of the Calabrian Episcopal Conference.

Ferro at one point led a diocesan pilgrimage to Rome to visit Pope Paul VI and another to Jerusalem.

Ferro likewise tended to victims of flooding on at least two occasions in 1951 and in 1953 and opened his episcopal residence to those who lost their homes.

He opened new schools and sporting facilities in addition to helping rebuild a chapel within the archdiocesan cathedral.

In his see he constructed new parishes and in 1951 and 1953 tended to the victims of rampant floods, opening his episcopal residence to the victims.

Ferro likewise oversaw the repair of the Sacramento chapel in the archdiocesan cathedral and helped in the construction of new schools and sporting facilities.

In 1950 he made his first pastoral visit and announced his second on 30 December 1958.

In 1962 he issued his pastoral letter Ut Unum sint.

Pope John XXIII named him as an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne.

From 1963 until 1965 he attended all sessions of the Second Vatican Council and sought to institute a similar program of renewal in his archdiocese following the council's closure.

He announced the third on 7 March 1965 and the final one on 2 December 1972.

In 1968 he presided over another pilgrimage designed to follow in the footsteps of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and he took this time to visit the Patriarch of Constantinople Athenagoras.

His work earned him praise in 1971 from both Pope Paul VI and the Italian President Giuseppe Saragat who awarded him with a silver goblet dating back to the 1700s as a sign of his esteem for the prelate.

In 1971 the President Giuseppe Saragat awarded him with a silver chalice dating back to the 1700s in recognition for all Ferro had done in his archdiocese and as a token of his esteem.

The beatification process launched in 2008 and he has become titled as a Servant of God.

Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue and titled him as Venerable in mid-2019.