Bernardo Maria Clausi

In 1827, with the restoration of religious orders, he was finally able to fulfill his vow to rejoin the Order of Minims. He made his solemn profession on April 17, 1828, under the name of Brother Bernardo Maria. He began his religious ministry in Paola, dedicating himself primarily to confession and spiritual direction. In 1830, religious obedience led him to the convent of San Francesco di Paola ai Monti in Rome. His reputation for holiness and as a wonder-worker preceded him there. In Rome, he carried out intense apostolic activity among the faithful and the sick of all social conditions. He was elected local superior (corrector) of the Rome-Monti convent several times (in 1831, 1837, and 1840). In 1835, he participated in the General Chapter of the Order and was appointed acting Procurator General by Cardinal Odescalchi. During his Roman stay, he earned the esteem of Popes Gregory XVI and Pius IX, as well as several cardinals. He formed deep friendships with great spiritual figures of the time, notably Saint Vincent Pallotti, the Venerable Elisabetta Sanna, and Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, and met Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier. In 1842, at the invitation of King Charles Albert of Savoy, he traveled to Liguria and Piedmont. In Turin, he met Saint John Bosco (Don Bosco). It was Father Bernardo Maria Clausi who advised Don Bosco to give the name "society" (and not order or congregation) to his future foundation (the Salesian Society) in order to protect it against the civil suppression laws that were then threatening traditional religious orders. During this trip, he also met the writer Silvio Pellico and Saint Eugene de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseille, who praised him in his spiritual journal. From 1844 to 1847, he traveled throughout the Kingdom of Naples to preach and hear confessions. In 1847, he settled in Paterno Calabro to restore and reopen for worship the ancient convent dear to Saint Francis of Paola. That same year, at the request of Pius IX, he returned briefly to Rome. In November 1849, feeling his end approaching, he returned to the sanctuary of Paola, where he died in the odor of sanctity on December 20, 1849.

Immediately upon his death, the Order of Minims undertook the necessary steps for the opening of his cause for beatification. The first ordinary informative process on his reputation for holiness opened in Rome on December 15, 1862, and closed on March 14, 1870. It was followed by four other ordinary processes and four apostolic processes. The cause was officially introduced on December 20, 1883. The validity of the informative process was decreed on May 11, 1891. The Positio on his virtues was published in 1983.

On December 11, 1987, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thus conferring upon him the title of Venerable. His cause for beatification is still in progress, awaiting the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession.

The spirituality of the Venerable Bernardo Maria Clausi is deeply rooted in the tradition of the Order of Minims, characterized by humility, penance, and charity. He was particularly attached to a small image of the Virgin Mary, under the title of Mater Gratiae et Misericordiae (the Madonnina), which he always carried with him and with which he blessed the sick and the faithful. Numerous extraordinary graces and healings have been reported through the intercession of this Marian devotion. In 1833, he also donated a painting of the Madonna del Bell'Amore to the Minim nuns (now preserved in Grottaferrata). He is also known for his gifts of prophecy, ecstasy, and discernment of hearts. His writings and letters testify to an absolute trust in Divine Providence amidst the trials of the Church of his time. Today, his memory remains vivid in Calabria, particularly in Paola, where his mortal remains are venerated in a side chapel of the Sanctuary of Saint Francis of Paola, as well as in San Sisto dei Valdesi, his native village, where a square and a monument are dedicated to him.