[Rank]
S. John Baptist Rossi Confessor;;Duplex;;3;;vide C5

[Rule]
vide C5;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
O God, Who didst beautify Thine holy Confessor John Baptist with the graces of~
love and longsuffering in preaching Thy Gospel unto the poor, grant, we beseech~
Thee, unto us who honour his godly and worthy life the grace to follow after the~
ensample of his good works.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
John Baptist de Rossi was born of a respectable family at Voltaggio, in the~
diocese of Genoa, (on the 22nd February 1698,) and, as a child, was the wonder~
of all on account of his gentleness and godliness. At thirteen years of age the~
good providence of God sent him to Rome, where he was destined afterwards to do~
the work of an Apostle. As a student at the Roman College he was distinguished~
both for his talents and his goodness. He was very anxious that his comrades~
should attend regularly the meetings of the guild of the Blessed Virgin, should~
minister to the sick in hospitals, and should be diverted from objectionable~
recreations by harmless amusements; at the same time he stirred up the more~
sluggish by his words on heavenly things, and from that time got the surname of~
Apostle. He fell seriously ill on account of his severe treatment of his own~
body, and was therefore obliged to relax somewhat the. earnestness of his~
studies. This he was accustomed to say was God's dealing with him that he might~
not be puffed up with knowledge, and so seek his own rather than those things~
which are JESUS Christ's. After joining the clergy he went through the sacred~
training in the College of St Thomas, where he went from strength to strength,~
and then with deep joy of soul received the Priesthood. He so chose the Lord to~
be his own inheritance, that he bound himself by a special vow not to accept any~
church benefice, even if it were offered him quite unsolicited, unless he were~
compelled to do so by obedience.

[Lectio5]
After he became a Priest, he devoted himself entirely to the spiritual health of~
his neighbours, which had been his care from his youth up. By the ministry of~
the Word, with wonderful gentleness he stirred up to the love of good alike~
ecclesiastics, holy virgins, citizens, prisoners, and the whole lowest class of~
the population. He spent several hours every day in hearing the confessions of~
the illiterate, and visited in their homes or in hospitals the sick, and~
especially the consumptive, of whom he spoke as his own. He hurried about the~
city, and took part in countless good works, but was especially careful in~
visiting the hospital of St Galla, to help in every way he could the poor, whom~
he held as a special object of affection. From his fifteenth year he was joined~
to a body of Priests whose special work was preaching to the poor, with them he~
learnt his apostleship, and he arranged and disseminated their labours. The same~
pity caused him to spend his modest substance in relieving the necessities of~
the needy. He left behind him abiding fruits of his unwearied zeal for the~
instruction of servants, wanderers, and the illiterate classes for the holy~
celebration of Easter, an home of refuge for the safe keeping of the lost women~
who wander through the city by night, but above all the earnestness for the~
salvation of souls aroused among the clergy.

[Lectio6]
The brightness of his love of God shone forth in his face while he was~
officiating, and he could not speak of His goodness without tears. He was forced,~
out of obedience, to accept a Canon's stall in the collegiate church of St Mary~
in Cosmedine, and during the psalmody he seemed to become entranced. He was very~
careful as to the sacred ceremonies, sought the beauty of the house of God, and~
freely contributed of his means to that object. He communicated to others his~
own love towards the Mother of God, and he promoted her worship in his own~
church, where he instituted a daily sermon in her honour, in addition to her~
Office. He sought to fill himself with the spirit of Philip Neri, and while he~
was devout towards all the dwellers in heaven, he promoted increased honour for~
the princes of the Apostles; he was constant in prayer and in every good work,~
and rich in gifts of grace. At length in the hospital called that of the Most~
Holy Trinity, whither he had withdrawn to live along with the Priests, broken~
down by work, he reached the end of life, and when he had received the~
sacraments of the Church, and again exhorted to works of charity and to the care~
of the poor, he died in the Lord's kiss upon the 23rd day of May, in the year of~
Christ 1764, and of his own age the sixty-sixth. God was pleased to mark by~
miracles so remarkable an example of priestly grace, and when these had been~
duly proved, the Supreme Pontiff Pius IX., upon the 13th day of May, in the year~
i860, ascribed to him the honours paid to the blessed in heaven. As new signs~
still distinguished him, Leo XIII., upon the 8th day of December, in the year 1~
881, enrolled him among the Saints.

