While St. Vincent Strambi was a bishop who single-handedly saved a city from Napoleon’s army, he is honored even more for so faithfully loving the Christian flock he was charged to shepherd.

The son of a pharmacist, Vincent Strambi was born in Italy in 1745. As a boy, Vincent liked to play practical jokes. The plucky good nature that inspired him to constantly prank his friends also inspired him to give away his own overcoat or shoes to any homeless child he encountered.

His parents saw his faithfulness, even at his young age, and decided that he would become a diocesan priest. Vincent made a retreat before his ordination, which was led by St. Paul-of-the-Cross, who founded the Passionist order of priests, and he decided to enter that religious community instead. His parents strongly objected, which led to a prolonged confrontation between them and Vincent.

As soon as he was ordained a Passionist priest, Vincent was asked to become a leader by teaching theology and preaching to seminarians and filling administrative roles in the Passionist community. He led the Passionist community for 20 years before being elected bishop of Macareta-Tolentino, Italy.

The virtues which ruled Vincent's life as a bishop were zeal and discipline, and these virtues enriched the lives of the priests and laity of his diocese. As bishop, Vincent was especially attentive to the people in his care during both a typhoid epidemic and when a famine struck the city. In 1808, he was commanded to take an oath of obedience to Napoleon, but St. Vincent refused, and was accordingly expelled from his diocese. He continued to guide his people through correspondence.

Five years later, Napoleon was deposed and exiled, and Vincent returned to his diocese. Soon after, however, Napoleon escaped his imprisonment and, with 30,000 soldiers, occupied Macerata as his headquarters. His troops were defeated in the Battle of Tolentino and returned to sack and loot this city in their path of retreat. But Vincent went into the streets to plead with them--his courage saved the city.

After retiring as bishop, he moved to the Vatican to serve as an advisor to the Pope. He remained faithful to prayer and penance, and he died at the age of seventy-nine in 1824. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica and his image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.

St. Vincent Strambi, you single-handedly saved a city from Napoleon’s army--pray for us!