Blessed Alberto Marvelli; 1918-1946

From his pious mother, Alberto learned to be generous to the poor. Without warning, Alberto would sometimes see half of his meal disappear before his eyes as mother would give his plate to a hungry person. "Jesus has come, and He is hungry," she would tell her son. Besides a good Christian education that he received from his parents, the lad learned to be a hard worker and to defend justice and truth according to the Gospel.

Following the unexpected death of his father on March 7, 1933, the teenager Alberto undertook a strict regime of prayer which included early rising, a half hour of meditation, a half hour of spiritual reading, daily attendance at Mass, praying of the Rosary and the Angelus, and weekly confession. At 18 he became president of the local Catholic Action lay apostolate. As part of Alberto’s upbringing, he engaged in all kinds of sports, especially bicycling, which enabled him to carry out his future apostolate of works of charity.

Alberto studied engineering in the University of Bologna, and after earning a degree in 1941, he began teaching high school. During World War II, Alberto moved with his family from Rimini to Vergiano to escape the devastating air raids. However, he managed to seek out and assist the wounded, the dying, and the homeless in nearby areas. Moving about on his trusty bicycle, Alberto brought food, clothing, mattresses, and blankets. During the German occupation, he was able to save many from deportation to the concentration camps by courageously breaking open the locked doors of rail cars and releasing the prisoners.

In September of 1945, the Marvelli family returned to the city of Rimini and found it in ruins, without running water, electricity or sanitation. The local authorities entrusted Alberto with the allocation of housing, a position that he filled with determination. He opened a soup kitchen and invited the poor to go to Mass with him. He listened to the worries of the distraught and prayed with them. He was not afraid to criticize the ideology of the Communists and they in turn acknowledged his honesty and dedication to the well-being of the community. He understood politics as an important service of faith and justice to society.

After being nominated as a candidate to the Christian Democratic Party, he rode his bicycle to attend a meeting in preparation for the local elections on Oct. 5, 1946. On the way he was run over by an army truck and died a few hours later without gaining consciousness. He was 28 years old.

John Paul II named Alberto a Blessed on Sept 5, 2004.

The young man had taken as his motto: "My program of life is summed up in one word: holy."