PIRROTTI, POMPILIUS, ST.

Baptized Domenico Pirrotti; b. Monteclavo, Naples, Italy, Sept. 29, 1710; d. Campo (Lecce), Italy, July 15, 1766. After a good rearing and early education he decided in 1727 to enter the Order of the Pious Schools (piarists), and to dedicate his life to the apostolate of teaching. He took the name Pompilio (Pompilius) Maria of St. Nicholas, and after completing his studies taught in various schools of the order, particularly in the mountainous region of Abruzzi. His zeal for instructing and helping the poor was particularly manifest, and when he was appointed novice master in 1744 and sent to Naples his zeal only increased. He was among the first to propagate devotion to the sacred heart in Italy and to advocate daily Communion, which was most unusual at that time. His enthusiasm provoked suspicion and a campaign of slander that resulted in his exile by Charles III, king of Naples. The indignation of the people, however, forced Charles to revoke his decree. Pompilius was later sent to Manfredonia for two years and then to Campi, near Lecce, where he died. He was beatified in 1890 and canonized on March 19, 1934.

Feast: July 15.

Bibliography: f. grillo and g. tasca, Vita di San P. M. P. (Novara 1934). f. lÁzaro martÍnez, San Pompilio María Pirrotti: su persona, vocación, carácter y fisonomía espiritual (Madrid 1976). s. lÓpez ruiz, S. Pompilio Maria Pirrotti, un escolapio místico y activo (Salamanca 1984). l. picanyol, ed., Lettere scelte di S. Pompilio (Rome 1934). Acta Apostolicae Sedis 27 (1935) 223–234. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4v. (New York 1956) 3:113.

[l. a. iranyi]