Stephen Bellesini
Encyclopedia
Blessed Stephen Bellesini was a friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...

 in the Order of the Hermits of St Augustine (OSA), who was born in Trent, Italy, on November 25, 1774, and died in Genazzano, Italy, on February 2, 1840.

Of the Italian aristocracy, Luigi Giuseppe Bellesini joined the Augustinians in 1790, taking the name Stefano, made his profession on May 31, 1794, and was ordained in 1797. He became a great champion of the education of youth, and was appointed by the Austrian government inspector of all schools in Trent.

For a period, he was Novice Master for his Order, and, in 1831, was named parish priest in Genazzano, home to the miraculous fresco of Our Lady of Good Counsel
Our Lady of Good Counsel
Our Lady of Good Counsel is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, after an allegedly miraculous painting now found in the thirteenth century Augustinian church at Genazzano, near Rome, Italy. Measuring 40 by 45 centimeters the image is a fresco executed on a thin layer of porcelain no thicker...

, for whom he had a great devotion.

It was during a cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

 epidemic in 1840 that, while ministering to his parishioners, he succumbed to the disease. He was beatified by Pope St Pius X, on December 27, 1904, and his Feast Day is February 3.

In Massachusetts is found the Blessed Stephen Bellesini OSA Academy, in collaboration with Merrimack College
Merrimack College
Merrimack College is an independent college in the Roman Catholic, Augustinian tradition located in North Andover, Massachusetts, north of Boston, Massachusetts. It offers undergraduate degrees in business, education, science, engineering, and the liberal arts...

.
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