Luigi Lenzini
Luigi Lenzini (28 May 1881 – 21 July 1945) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest that served as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Modena-Nonatola. Communist partisans killed him at his parish.
Lenzini started his studies for the priesthood in 1897 before his sacerdotal ordination in 1904. He served in several parishes around the area before he moved to Rome for several months in the hopes of becoming a Redemptorist. This effort fell through due to the fact that he discerned his path was to remain as a diocesan priest rather than a religious one. He opposed fascism and communism during World War II but tried to befriend some of the partisans in his parish to get to know and understand them better. This caused some to grow frustrated with him due to his repeated condemnations of their ideologies, leading them to confront Lenzini before killing him in an abandoned field not far from his parish.
The process for his beatification opened in Modena some decades after his death. Pope Francis confirmed in 2020 that he had died due to hatred for the Christian faith that enabled for Lenzini to be beatified in Modena on 28 May 2022.
In the Martyrology
- July 21 Blessed Luigi Lenzini, priest and martyr