Fr. Giuseppe Berardelli, a 72-year-old priest in Italy has died from coronavirus.
Fr Berardelli, from Casnigo, in the Bergamo province in northern Italy, had reportedly tested positive for coronavirus. It is said that he gave a respirator which was purchased for him by his parishioners to a younger patient suffering from the virus.
The news, reported by Italian news website Araberara, was shared on Twitter by James Martin, SJ, editor at large for America Magazine and consultor to the Dicastery for Communication in the Vatican.
“’Greater love has no person…’ (Jn 15:13),” Fr Martin wrote on Twitter.
Fr Martin explained that Fr Berardelli, who was from Casnigo (Bergamo), was “a ‘Martyr of Charity,’ a saint like St. Maximilian Kolbe, who in Auschwitz volunteered to take the place of a condemned man with a family, and was killed.
“Don Giuseppe Berardelli, patron of those who suffer from coronavirus and all who care for them, pray for us!” he tweeted.
Fr. Giuseppe Berardelli, a 72-year-old priest who gave a respirator (that his parishioners had purchased for him), to a younger patient (whom he did not know), has died from #coronavirus.
“Greater love has no person…” (Jn 15:13) https://t.co/qXQ6knoE6n via @Araberara pic.twitter.com/uKxRNghire
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) March 24, 2020
Don Giuseppe Berardelli, patron of those who suffer from coronavirus and all who care for them, pray for us!
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) March 24, 2020
