Saint Ferdinando Maria Baccilieri was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Secular Servites. He was born on May 1821. He received his education in his parents’ school. He eventually studied with the Barnabites in Bologna and the Jesuits in Ferrara.
When he studied with the Jesuits he felt that he had a strong calling to the religious life and desired to join the missions in the East as a means of spreading the message of the Gospel. However this idea never materialized. He underwent his theological and philosophical studies (and also learnt civil and canon law) and was ordained to the priesthood upon the completion of his studies on March 1844.
He was sent to Bologna to the troubled parish of Galeazza Pepoli – as a sign of the archdiocese’s esteem for his work he was appointed as the parochial vicar of that parish. He was later professed as a Secular Servite in 1855. In 1867 he lost his voice and was forced to write out homilies and addresses and have others deliver them for him. Despite this he continued to focus on hearing confessions and caring for the parish community the work of his congregation. In 1862, he opened a small convent for girls and in 1866 formalized it under a Rule that would evolve into a religious congregation.
The congregation he had founded was devoted to the instruction of children in a religious education and also catered to providing assistance to the ill. The congregation also worked for the promotion of parish activities. He welcomed the poor and was known for his enlightened views of Christian attitudes towards the poor. He had become well known for restoring a troubled parish to one brimming with the faith and was made its parochial vicar as a result of his good work and effort in the Bolognese parish.
