{"id":28359,"date":"2026-01-19T16:25:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=28359"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:26:08","slug":"fr-elia-comini-priest-and-martyr-to-be-beatified-on-september-27-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2026\/01\/19\/fr-elia-comini-priest-and-martyr-to-be-beatified-on-september-27-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Fr. Elia Comini, Priest and Martyr, to Be Beatified on September 27, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

(ANS \u2013 Vatican City)<\/strong> \u2013 El January 2, 2026<\/strong>, Archbishop Edgar Pe\u00f1a Parra, Substitute of the Vatican Secretariat of State, informed His Eminence Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, that Pope Leo XIV<\/strong> had accepted the proposal to celebrate the Rite of Beatification<\/strong> of the Venerable Servants of God Ubaldo Marchinoni<\/strong>, diocesan priest; Fr. Elia Comini<\/strong>, Salesian of Don Bosco; and Fr. Martino Capelli<\/strong>, Dehonian, on September 27, 2026<\/strong>, in Bologna. The representative of the Supreme Pontiff will be His Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro<\/strong>, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Elia Comini was born in the locality of Madonna del Bosco<\/em> in Calvenzano di Vergato (Province of Bologna) on May 7, 1910<\/strong>. Monsignor Fidenzio Mellini, a former student of Don Bosco in Turin, directed him to the Salesians of Finale Emilia. Elia entered the novitiate on October 1, 1925<\/strong>, made his first profession on October 3, 1926<\/strong>, and his perpetual profession on May 8, 1931<\/strong>. Ordained a priest in Brescia on March 16, 1935<\/strong>, the Servant of God lived in the Salesian houses of Chiari (Province of Brescia, until 1941) and Treviglio (Province of Bergamo, from 1941 to 1944).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 1944<\/strong>, he returned periodically to the Bologna Apennines to assist his elderly mother, who was living alone, and to help Monsignor Fidenzio Mellini in his pastoral ministry. He arrived in Salvaro on June 24<\/strong> and remained there for just over three months, until his death. During this time, he supported the local population in their many wartime needs, animated the liturgy, promoted frequent reception of the sacraments, accompanied consecrated women, and carried out an intense apostolate through works of corporal and spiritual mercy. He also acted as a mediator among opposing groups: the civilian population, the partisans, and the German Wehrmacht soldiers who were stationed in the rectory for a month (August 1\u2013September 1, 1944<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Servant of God formed a deep priestly fraternity with the young Dehonian Fr. Martino Capelli<\/strong>, a bond that united them in ministry and martyrdom. On the morning of September 29, 1944<\/strong>, Fr. Elia rushed with Fr. Martino to Creda<\/em>, a village where SS troops from a battalion of the 16th Armored Division had just carried out a massacre. Wearing their stoles and carrying holy oils and a tabernacle containing Eucharistic hosts, they were clearly identified as priests ministering to the dying. Captured, stripped of their priestly insignia, and forced to carry ammunition like pack animals, Fr. Elia and Fr. Martino endured intense suffering throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That evening, they were transferred to the casa dei birocciai<\/em> (house of the carters) in Pioppe di Salvaro, where they spent two harrowing days, fully aware from the beginning that they were destined to die, yet remaining close to their fellow prisoners. On the evening of October 1, 1944<\/strong>, they were executed with a group of prisoners deemed \u201cunfit\u201d at the Botte della Canapiera<\/em> in Pioppe di Salvaro. This followed a grim and surreal ritual in which the SS forced the prisoners to march along a walkway before mowing them down with machine guns. During the execution, Fr. Elia intoned the Litany and finally cried out, \u201cPiet\u00e0!\u201d<\/em> (\u201cMercy!\u201d). The bodies could not be recovered; later, the grates were opened and the swift current of the Reno River carried away their already devastated remains forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Ubaldo Marchioni<\/strong> was an exemplary priest who remained faithful to his community even in the most tragic moments of World War II. After years of formation and deep friendships in the seminary, he was ordained in 1942<\/strong> and became parish priest of San Martino di Caprara and Casaglia in May 1944<\/strong>. During the Nazi massacre of September 29, 1944<\/strong>, he stayed with his parishioners until his violent death on the steps of the altar in Casaglia. Amid the rubble of that altar, a bullet-riddled ciborium was later found, a powerful symbol of faith and martyrdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFr. Elia Comini, Fr. Martino Capelli, and Fr. Ubaldo Marchioni, together with Blessed Giovanni Fornasini,<\/strong>\u201d recalls Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni<\/strong>, Postulator General, \u201care young priests who embodied the charity of the Good Shepherd, giving their lives for their flock and with their flock\u2014faithful ministers of the mysteries of redemption and artisans of peace, justice, and reconciliation.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(ANS \u2013 Vatican City) \u2013 On January 2, 2026, Archbishop Edgar Pe\u00f1a Parra, Substitute of the Vatican Secretariat of State, informed His Eminence Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, that Pope Leo XIV had accepted the proposal to celebrate the Rite of Beatification of the Venerable Servants of God Ubaldo Marchinoni, diocesan priest; Fr. Elia Comini, Salesian of Don Bosco; and Fr. Martino Capelli, … Continuar leyendo Fr. Elia Comini, Priest and Martyr, to Be Beatified on September 27, 2026<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":28364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[775865498,516714022],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-salesian-holiness","category-salesian-world-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-20-Fr-Elia-Comini-feature.jpg?fit=1600%2C875&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-7np","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28365,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28359\/revisions\/28365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}