Saint’s Life Story

His Early Life

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on November 25, 1881, in Sotto il Monte, a small village in the Diocese of Bergamo, Italy. He was the fourth of thirteen children in a deeply religious farming family. His family worked as sharecroppers, and the faith he encountered at home and in his parish would remain with him throughout his life. He was baptized on the very day he was born.

There was nothing about his childhood that suggested he would one day become pope. Angelo grew up in a simple rural environment where faith was woven into everyday life. His parish priest, Father Francesco Rebuzzini, played an important role in his religious formation. Angelo received his First Communion and Confirmation in 1889.

Entered Seminary at 11

In 1892, at only eleven years old, he entered the seminary in Bergamo. One of the most revealing things about young Angelo is that he began keeping spiritual notes when he was only fourteen. These writings eventually became part of what is known as Journal of a Soul, a collection that he continued to add to throughout his life. One journal entry at the age of eighteen reflected, “And you, O God…opened my eyes to this light which sheds its radiance around me, you created me. So you are my Master and I am your creature. I am nothing without you, and through you I am all that I am. I can do nothing without you; indeed, if at every moment you did not support me I should slip back whence I came, into nothingness.”

Even as a young man, he was learning to examine his life honestly and to place his hopes, struggles, and decisions before God. He also developed a strong devotion to Saint Francis of Assisi and became a member of the Secular Franciscan Order in 1896. From the beginning, his spirituality was marked by simplicity, obedience, prayer, and a desire to serve.

Ordained a Priest

Angelo continued his studies in Rome, Italy at the Pontifical Roman Seminary. His education was interrupted for a year by military service, but he eventually completed his studies and was ordained a priest on August 10, 1904, in Rome. The following year, he returned to Bergamo and became secretary to Bishop Giacomo Radini Tedeschi.

Worked With Bishop

For nearly a decade, Angelo worked closely with the bishop, accompanying him on pastoral visits, while also teaching history and theology in the seminary. In addition, he preached, wrote, and became involved in Catholic social and pastoral activities. These years were important because they helped form the pastoral style that would later characterize his papacy.

Military Chaplain

Then came World War I. Angelo served as a military chaplain in the Medical Corps, caring for wounded soldiers. The experience brought him face-to-face with suffering and gave him an even deeper appreciation for the human cost of war.

It was at this time also that he began the research for a multi-volume work on the episcopal visitation of Bergamo by Saint Charles Borromeo, the last volume of which was published after his elevation as pope.

After the war, he continued serving the Church in educational and administrative positions. In 1925, Pope Pius XI appointed him apostolic visitor to Bulgaria and ordained him a bishop. Angelo chose the episcopal motto “Oboedientia et Pax”—“Obedience and Peace.” He later explained that these words summarized his life.

A Diplomat Who Never Forgot He Was a Priest

Angelo spent years serving the Church outside Italy. In Bulgaria, he worked to build respectful relationships with Orthodox Christians and other Christian communities. When a devastating earthquake struck Bulgaria in 1928, he offered assistance to those affected. His approach was not simply diplomatic. He wanted to be a pastor among the people.

In 1934, Angelo was sent to Turkey and Greece. There, he continued his ministry among Catholics while developing relationships with Orthodox Christians and Muslims. When World War II began and Greece suffered terribly, Angelo became deeply involved in helping prisoners of war. According to the Vatican biography, he also helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people, by providing transit visas through the Apostolic Delegation.

Apostolic Nuncio

In 1944, Pope Pius XII appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to France in Paris to assist in the Church’s post-war efforts in France. He arrived during the final stages of World War II and helped with the difficult work of rebuilding relationships and restoring stability to the Church.He became the first permanent observer of the Holy See at UNESCO, addressing its sixth and seventh general assemblies in 1951 and 1952. 

What is striking about these years is that Angelo never seemed to lose the simple identity of a priest. Even while dealing with governments, bishops, diplomats, and complicated political circumstances, he remained interested in people.

Patriarch of Venice

In 1953, Angelo was made a Cardinal and appointed Patriarch of Venice. At sixty-nine, he might reasonably have expected to spend his remaining years quietly serving as a diocesan bishop.

Venice suited him. He visited parishes, preached, celebrated Mass, met ordinary people, and became known for his warmth. He was a man who enjoyed people and did not seem uncomfortable around those who were poor, elderly, sick, or forgotten.

Then, unexpectedly, everything changed.

Pope John XXIII

When Pope Pius XII died in October 1958, Angelo traveled to Rome for the conclave. On October 28, 1958, on the eleventh ballot, ‘against all expectations‘, the cardinals elected him as the 261st Pope. He chose the name John XXIII. His coronation took place on November 4, 1958, on the feast of Saint Charles Borromeo, in the central loggia of the Vatican.I

On December 15th of that same year, in John XXIII’s first consistory, or the formal meeting of the College of Cardinals, Archbishop of Milan, Giovanni Battista Montini, was created a cardinal. Later, he would succeeded Pope John XXIII in 1963, taking the name Paul VI as the next Pope.

He was seventy-six years old. Many expected his papacy to be relatively brief and transitional.

Instead, Pope John XXIII would change the course of modern Catholic history.

“A Council”

Only three months into his pontificate, on January 25, 1959, Pope John XXIII announced his intention to call an ecumenical council. He later recalled that the idea had come to him almost unexpectedly. In his words, the thought of a council came “almost out of the blue,” and he described the moment as a kind of light and inspiration.

In 1960, he consecrated fourteen bishops for Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The International Balzan Foundation awarded him its Peace Prize in 1962.

The result was the Second Vatican Council, which opened on October 11, 1962.

More than two thousand bishops from around the world gathered in Rome. John XXIII wanted the Church to engage the modern world while remaining faithful to its Christian heritage. He emphasized the pastoral mission of the Church and the importance of unity among Christians.

His opening address expressed confidence rather than fear. He criticized what he called the “prophets of doom” who saw only disaster in the modern world, arguing instead that Divine Providence was guiding history toward purposes that human beings could not always see.

That optimism became one of his defining characteristics.

The Pope and the World

Pope John XXIII’s concern for peace became especially important during the Cold War. In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world frighteningly close to nuclear war. He appealed for peace, and his concern for humanity transcended political boundaries.

In 1961, he issued the encyclical Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher), which advocated for social reforms, assistance to underdeveloped countries, fair wages for workers, and support for socialist measures that aimed to benefit society.

In 1963, he issued Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), an encyclical addressed not only to Catholics but also to “all men of good will.” He wrote about peace, human dignity, truth, justice, charity, and freedom.

His message was deeply personal. Peace, he taught, had to begin within the human heart and then extend into relationships between people and nations.

His famous episcopal motto, “Obedience and Peace,” now seemed to describe his entire life.

His Death

Pope John XXIII’s health began to fail seriously in 1962 and 1963. He had stomach cancer, and his strength gradually diminished. Yet, he continued to work and to guide the Council as long as he could.

Before he died he said: “Born poor, but of humble and respected folk, I am particularly happy to die poor, having distributed, according to the various needs and circumstances of my simple and modest life in the service of the poor and of the holy Church whatever came into my hands.” In his last will, he bequeathed each of the living members of the family a legacy of less than $20, his total personal fortune.

He died on the evening of June 3, 1963, the day after Pentecost. He was buried in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, after having served as Pope for only about four and a half years.

Yet, the man who had been born to a poor farming family in a small Italian village had become a pope remembered for his warmth, humility, courage, and extraordinary trust in God.

Pope Saint John XXIII today is affectionately known as “the Good Pope”.

Pope John XXIII is venerated as a Saint not only by the Catholic Church, but by the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church of the United States, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, due to his dedication to promoting Christian unity and the healing, where possible, of the divisions between Christians.

Born:                      November 25, 1881, in Sotto il Monte, Diocese of Bergamo, Italy

Died:                      June 3, 1963, (age 81) in Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

Beatified:              September 3, 2000 by Pope John Paul II

Canonized:          April 27, 2014 by Pope Francis

Feast Day:            October 11

Patron Saint:      Italian Army and Soldiers; Papal Delegates; Sotto il Monte, Italy; The Second Vatican Council

Source:

• Oct 11 – Saint Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) convened the Second Vatican Council – Catholicireland.net
• CatholicSaints.Info » Pope Saint John XXIII
• Pope Saint John XXIII – Saint for a Minute
• Biographical Profile of His Holiness Pope John XXIII – Vatican
• Pope John XXIII – Wikipedia

Prayers

Video Link

St. John XXIII: One of the Most Beloved Popes – YouTube (Awaken The Saint)