Mario Ciceri
Italian Catholic priest, Venerated Catholic
Feast: 14 June (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 1 December 2016 — Heroic virtue declared — title Venerable (decree list, 2016)
Who they were
Mario Ciceri was born at Veduggio near Milan on 8 September 1900, fourth of six children, and was raised by a devout, active mother in a household that included thirteen cousins. He was ordained in Milan cathedral on 14 June 1924 and became a curate.
During the Second World War, despite the risks, he did many works of charity for the needy, for young men sent to the front, for Jews and for people hunted by the Nazi-Fascist forces. He died on 4 April 1945, offering his life for the end of the war, the return of the soldiers and the conversion of sinners.
The miracles
Raffaella Di Grigoli, a little girl
She was healed of peritonitis and intestinal ischaemia with intestinal fistulas, as a severely malnourished patient with congenital megacolon. She then grew normally and in 2005 became the mother of a healthy baby girl. The causal link between the invocation and the healing was judged proven.
Why that counted as sanctity
A parish priest who risked his life to help Jews and the hunted, and offered it for peace.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Mario Ciceri
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q102347445 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Mario Ciceri (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.