Saint John XXIII
Pope
- Feast Day
- October 11
- Life
- 1881–1963
- Canonized
- 2014
- Born
- Sotto il Monte, Bergamo, Italy
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born to a peasant farming family at Sotto il Monte in the diocese of Bergamo on 25 November 1881. Ordained priest in 1904, he served as secretary to Bishop Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi, as a sergeant-medic in the First World War, and from 1921 in the Roman administration of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. From 1925 until 1953 he served as papal diplomat in Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece, where during the Second World War he aided in the rescue of Jews from Nazi persecution, and as nuncio in Paris (1944-1953). In 1953 he was created cardinal and named Patriarch of Venice.
Elected pope on 28 October 1958, he was widely expected to be a transitional figure. On 25 January 1959, less than three months into his pontificate, he announced his intention to convoke an ecumenical council. The Second Vatican Council, which he opened on 11 October 1962, was the most consequential ecclesial event of the twentieth century. He revised canon law, addressed the encyclicals Mater et Magistra (1961) on Catholic social teaching and Pacem in Terris (1963) on peace among all peoples to all men of good will (the first encyclical so addressed), and during the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 mediated discreetly between Washington and Moscow.
He died on 3 June 1963, six months before the Council's third session. Pope Saint John Paul II beatified him on 3 September 2000. Pope Francis canonized him together with John Paul II on 27 April 2014, dispensing in his case from the requirement of a second authenticated miracle. His Optional Memorial is fixed at 11 October, the day he opened the Council.
Pope John XXIII (Il Papa Buono, the Good Pope) is venerated for the pastoral simplicity, humor, and confidence in the action of the Holy Spirit that animated his calling of the Council. The opening discourse of Vatican II, Gaudet Mater Ecclesia (Mother Church Rejoices), set the Council's tone: a renewal of the Church's witness for the modern world without departing from received doctrine.
Patronages
the Second Vatican Council · papal delegates
Catholic Churches Named After Saint John XXIII
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint John XXIII's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- St. John XXIII Quasi-Parish — Ligao, ALBAY
- Pope St. John XXIII Quasi-Parish — Sorsogon, SORSOGON
- St. Pope John XXIII Parish — Niles, OH
- John XXIII, Hope Valley — Hope Valley, SA
- Saint John XXIII Catholic Community — Fontana, CA
- St. John XXIII Catholic Community - St. Agnes Campus — Niantic, CT
- St. Louis Church (St. John XXIII Parish) — West Haven, CT
- St. John XXIII Catholic Center — Knoxville, TN
- St. Francis of Assisi (St. John XXIII Parish) — Finleyville, PA
- St. Isaac Jogues-St. John XXIII Parish — Jefferson Hills, PA
- St. John XXIII Congregation - St. Peter of Alcantara — Port Washington, WI
- St John XXIII Parish — Cedar Rapids, IA
- Pope St. John XXIII Parish Church
- St. John XXIII Chapel — Cebu
- Blessed John XXIII Newman Center (SUNY Plattsburgh) — City of Plattsburgh, NY
- John XXIII Diocesan Center — Lincoln, NE
- Saint John XXIII Catholic Church — Fort Myers, FL
- Infant Jesus - St. John XXIII Parish — Nashua, NH
- St. Mary / St. John XXIII Parish — Kickapoo, IL
- Saint John XXIII Parish — Tamaqua, PA
Sources