Rolando Rivi

Due to the Second World War and the occupation of the Marola seminary by German troops in the summer of 1944, the superiors were forced to close the institution. Rolando then returned to his family in San Valentino. Despite the closure of the seminary and the climate of growing violence, he continued to live as a seminarian, pursuing his studies under the guidance of his parish priest and constantly wearing his cassock. In a context marked by strong political tensions and virulent anti-clericalism on the part of certain groups of communist partisans in the region (the "triangle of death"), the young boy became a point of reference for the children of the village. He organized catechism sessions, invited them to prayer and the sacraments, and publicly bore witness to his faith. His attitude and his unwavering attachment to his ecclesiastical habit attracted the hostility of local anti-religious militants, who viewed the influence of this young seminarian with suspicion.

On the morning of April 10, 1945, while he had isolated himself in a grove to study and pray, Rolando Rivi was abducted by a group of communist partisans from the Garibaldi Brigade. His captors left a hastily written note for his parents: "Do not look for him, he is coming with us, the partisans, for a while." Unjustly accused of being a spy in the service of the fascists and the Germans, the 14-year-old boy was taken to Piane di Monchio, a hamlet in the municipality of Palagano, in the province of Modena. There, he was sequestered in a farm building and subjected for three days to insults, humiliations, and brutal torture. His executioners mocked his cassock, which they tore from him. Despite the violence of the blows, Rolando endured his suffering by praying. On Friday, April 13, 1945, around 3:00 PM (the hour of Christ's death), his executioners dragged him into a nearby wood where a pit had been dug. Understanding that he was to be executed, Rolando asked for one last favor: to be able to pray for his father and mother. While he was on his knees in prayer, he was shot with two pistol bullets, one in the left temple and the other in the heart. His cassock was hung up as a trophy by his murderers.

The day after his execution, on April 14, 1945, his father Roberto Rivi and the young vicar of San Valentino, Father Alberto Camellini, guided by the indications of certain partisans, discovered Rolando's martyred body in the woods of Piane di Monchio. He was first given a Christian burial in Monchio, then his remains were transferred on May 29, 1945, to the cemetery of San Valentino. Faced with the constant influx of pilgrims, his body was solemnly transferred on June 26, 1997, inside the parish church of San Valentino. After the war, the Italian justice system sentenced those responsible for his murder (notably Giuseppe Corghi, the political commissar who fired the shots, and Delciso Rioli, the brigade commander) to prison terms. The cause for beatification was officially opened on January 7, 2006, in the Diocese of Modena. On March 27, 2013, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing his martyrdom in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith). The beatification ceremony was celebrated on October 5, 2013, at the Sports Palace (PalaPanini) in Modena, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis. His liturgical memorial is set for April 13, the day of his birth into Heaven.

The spirituality of Blessed Rolando Rivi is entirely summarized in his famous phrase: "I belong to Jesus" (Io sono di Gesù). For him, the cassock was not a simple garment, but the joyful, outward sign of this total belonging. Despite the warnings of his parents, who were worried for his safety, he refused to take it off, offering: "What harm is there in wearing it? I do not want to take it off. I am studying to be a priest and the cassock is the sign that I belong to Jesus." His martyrdom has become a powerful symbol of Christian fidelity and reconciliation. In April 2018, a historic gesture of forgiveness took place when the daughter of Rolando's assassin publicly asked for forgiveness from the sister and relatives of the Blessed, transforming the memory of this tragedy into a path of peace and evangelical reconciliation. Today, he is proposed as a model of faith and courage for young people and seminarians throughout the world.