Giovanni Battista de' Rossi
Italian Jesuit
Feast: 23 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Giovanni Battista de' Rossi was born at Voltaggio, near Genoa, on 22 February 1698 and at about thirteen went to Rome to study at the Roman College. In 1714 he decided to become a priest; his intense life brought on the first signs of the epilepsy that would cause his death. He was ordained on 8 March 1721.
He welcomed the poor and the most outcast and taught them the faith. He died on 23 May 1764; he was beatified by Pius IX, who had been president of the priests' union of St Galla.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
An epileptic priest who spent himself teaching the faith to Rome's outcasts.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Giovanni Battista de' Rossi
- Wikidata Q1115725 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Giovanni Battista de' Rossi (priest) (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.