Matteo Farina

Matteo led the life of an ordinary teenager of his generation, while infusing it with a remarkable spiritual dimension. Passionate about music, he learned to play several instruments and founded a band with friends named "No Name." He was also interested in sports, computer science, and the sciences, particularly chemistry. His classmates, who appreciated his ability to ease tensions and speak about God with simplicity, affectionately nicknamed him "the moralizer." During his last two years, he lived a chaste and deep romantic relationship with a young girl named Serena, based on shared Christian values.

At the age of 9, on the night of January 2 to 3, 2000, Matteo had a significant dream in which Saint Pio of Pietrelcina revealed to him the secret of Christian joy: "If you have managed to understand that he who is without sin is happy, you must make others understand it, so that we may all go together, happy, into the Kingdom of Heaven." This dream sealed his vocation as an evangelist. He then defined himself as an "infiltrator of God" among young people, writing in his diary his desire to enter among them "silent as a virus" to infect them with an "incurable disease: Love!"

In September 2003, when he was 13 years old, the first symptoms of the illness appeared in the form of severe headaches and visual disturbances. The diagnosis revealed a brain tumor. Matteo accepted this trial not as a fatality, but as a mission of surrender to the divine will. He underwent several delicate surgical procedures, notably at the INI clinic in Hanover, Germany, starting in January 2005. Despite the progressive deterioration of his health and a paralysis that forced him to use a wheelchair at the beginning of 2009, he maintained an unalterable smile and continued to encourage other sick people. He passed away holily in Brindisi on April 24, 2009, at the age of 18.

The reputation of holiness of Matteo Farina spread rapidly after his death, touching many faithful, especially the youth. On April 11, 2016, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the nihil obstat decree, granting him the title of Servant of God. The diocesan phase of the beatification process opened solemnly on September 19, 2016 (the day of his birthday) at the church of Santa Maria del Casale in Brindisi, under the presidency of Archbishop Mgr. Domenico Caliandro. It concluded on April 24, 2017, in the cathedral of Brindisi. On September 22, 2017, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints officially validated this diocesan inquiry. A few days later, on September 29, 2017, his mortal remains were transferred from the family chapel in the Brindisi cemetery to the cathedral of Brindisi-Ostuni, in order to facilitate the devotion of pilgrims.

On May 5, 2020, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, which officially conferred upon him the title of Venerable.

In parallel, a diocesan inquiry into an alleged miracle attributed to his intercession was opened on November 7, 2018, and concluded on March 21, 2019. The acts of this procedure were transmitted to Rome for examination by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. To this day, Matteo Farina retains the canonical status of Venerable, awaiting the official recognition of a miracle for his beatification.

The spirituality of Matteo Farina is based on an absolute trust in Providence and a constant search for evangelical joy, inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. He nourished his faith through the daily reading of the Word of God, the recitation of the Rosary, and devotion to the Sacred Heart through the practice of the First Fridays of the month.

His legacy is particularly vibrant among Italian youth, who see in him a model of everyday holiness, capable of reconciling modernity (music, studies, friendship, love) with a radical Christian commitment. His writings, notably his diary and his poems, continue to be widely disseminated. Concerned for the poorest, he had also established during his lifetime an aid fund with his own savings to support the Capuchin missions in Mozambique.