Luca Passi
Italian presbyter
Feast: 18 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Luca Passi was born in Bergamo on 22 January 1789 to a noble Venetian family and felt called from youth to the apostolate. 'Whoever does not burn, does not set on fire,' he told the sisters who educated girls.
In 1815 he began the pious works of St Raphael and St Dorothy, and in 1838 the Pious Work of St Dorothy for the Christian education of the young and weakest, especially the poor, founding the Teaching Sisters of St Dorothy. He died in Venice on 18 April 1866.
The miracles
He was beatified in St Mark's Basilica, Venice. The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A priest aflame with love of God who gave poor boys and girls an education and a trade.
Connected on this site
- Annunciata Astoria Cocchetti Blessed“Cocchetti made her vows in 1843 and was close with Luca Passi who established a congregation similar to hers.” — Wikipedia
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Luca Passi
- Wikidata Q3838229 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Luca Passi (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.