Saint Richard Pampuri

Also known as

Erminio Filippo Pampuri
Riccardo Pampuri
Ricardo Pampuri

Memorial

1 May

Profile

Tenth of the eleven children born to Innocenzo and Angela Pampuri. His mother died of tuberculosis when Erminio was three, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents and an aunt. His father died in a traffic accident when Erminio was ten.

Though he wanted to become a missionary priest, one of the great influences on the boy was his uncle Carlo, a village doctor. When Erminio's health proved to be too weak for the rigors of missionary work, he studied medicine at Pavia University. Franciscan tertiary, member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and involved in Catholic Action, he attended Mass daily while in school.

Drafted into the Italian army medical corps in World War I in 1917, Erminio was a sergeant; he spent his duty in field hospitals, sickened by the misery of war. He resumed his studies in 1920, and graduated from medical school on 6 July 1921 at the top of his class. Rural health officer in Morimondo in the Po Vally, a poor area near Milan, Italy. Secretary for his parish's missionary society, he organized retreats for local laymen, and worked area youth. He treated the poor for free, coordinated charitable drives for them, and founded the Band of Pius X, a group dedicated to medical care for the poor.

Feeling a call to religious life, Erminio joined the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God on 22 June 1927, taking the name Riccardo, and making his formal profession on 24 October 1928. Ran a free dental clinic for the Order in Brescia, treating those in need, and giving them money and food in the bargain if they needed it.

Born

2 August 1897 at Trivolzio, Pavia, Italy as Erminio Filippo Pampuri

Died

1 May 1930 in Milan, Italy of pleurisy, tuberculosis and pneumonia

Venerated

12 June 1978

Beatified

4 October 1981 by Pope John Paul II

Canonized

1 November 1989 by Pope John Paul II

Additional Information

For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Hospitaller Brothers of Saint John of God
Kirken i Norge - norwegian
MedicalNet
Saints Alive, by Father Robert F McNamara
San Riccardo Pampuri, La Vita, I Miracoli, Le Devozioni - italiano
Santi e Beati - italiano

Translate

español | français | deutsch | italiano | português

Readings

The short but intense life of Brother Richard is an incentive for all the People of God, but especially for the young, for doctors and for religious. He is an extraordinary figure, close to us in time but even closer still to us in the midst of our problems and our needs.

- Pope John Paul II in the canonization homily for Saint Richard

---

Pray that neither self indulgence nor pride, nor any other evil passion, prevent me from seeing in my patients Jesus who suffers, and from healing and comforting Him.

- Saint Richard in a letter to his sister, a missionary nun

---

Saints Index SQPN Contact Author