St. John Baptist De Rossi was born in 1698 into an impoverished family in Voltaggio, Italy. Though John's family was poor, they were rich in faith. Through their guidance and exceptional education, John developed a remarkable proficiency in his faith, cultivating deep piety and embodying a gentle spirit. In 1711, John's cousin, Lorenzo de Rossi, who was a canon at St. Mary in Cosmedin in Rome, called him to the city.
Lorenzo suggested that John complete his studies at the Collegium Romanum under the guidance of the Jesuits. He then studied philosophy and theology under the Dominicans at the Dominican College of Saint Thomas. During this time, John joined the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin and the Ristretto of the Twelve Apostles. John was ordained to the priesthood on 8 March 1721. He never dared to hear confessions himself. However, while convalescing in Civita Castellana in 1738, the local bishop insisted on taking up that pastoral ministry too, and in this, he proved himself so effective that he was given the unusual faculty of hearing confessions in any church in Rome. Thenceforth, he spent many hours a day hearing confessions, particularly of prisoners, the poor, and the illiterate in the hospitals or their homes.
John was attracted especially to the apostolate among the herdsmen and labourers of the Roman Campagna and would preach to them in the early morning or late evening when they assembled in the Campo Vaccino. The remainder of the day, he spent visiting the sick and the poor in the hospital of St. Galla, and near it, in 1731, he established a refuge for the unfortunate who wandered the streets by night. John Baptist de Rossi, himself worn out by his unselfish service, suffered a stroke in 1763 and died a year later on 23 May 1764. Pope Leo XIII canonized him on 8 December 1881.
St. John Baptist De Rossi, obtain for us the grace to grow into devoted and faithful servants of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)
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