Blessed Odoardo Focherini and holy dads

Odoardo Focherini was a dad. Since June 15, 2013, the Catholic Church has called him Blessed Odoardo Focherini.

What does it take for a husband and a father to earn the title of blessed?

The most obvious holy man who is also a father is the foster-father of our Lord. Celebrating Christmas always reminds us that Saint Joseph was more than a prop to fill out a nativity scene, more than just a carpenter or a breadwinner. He may not speak a word in the Gospels, but he certainly spoke through his actions. Joseph trusted in God during an inexplicable pregnancy, a miraculous birth, poverty and obscurity, and threats of death. Like all good fathers, he was a rock of strength for his family in difficult times.

Many of the greatest events described in the Old Testament also involved fathers, but most of those stories include problematic parenting decisions. The Patriarch Jacob’s sons might not have tried to kill their brother Joseph if Jacob hadn’t made it so clear that Joseph was his favorite. King David might not have almost lost his crown if he hadn’t overindulged his scheming son, Absalom. While Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son at God’s command shows his obedience to God, it probably didn’t feel warm and paternal to Isaac at the time.

Over the centuries, the holy example of monastic life has inspired some fathers to leave the world, their wives, and their children to enter religious life. Saint Peter Orseolo (928-987) was the ruler of Venice, Italy, when God called him to leave his family and become a Benedictine monk, though there is debate about whether Peter did so to atone for being complicit in the assassination of his predecessor. On the other hand, it is more common for devout fathers to decide to become priests or monks after their wives have died and their children are grown, as did Saint Francis de Borgia (1510-1572).

But some men have developed a reputation for holiness in ordinary family life. For example, Blessed Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi (1880-1951) was a lawyer, and he and his wife, Maria (who is also a blessed), married young and had four children. Luigi eventually held several important positions in the banking industry. But it was his devotion to his kids, not his job titles, that was most remarkable about Luigi. He and Maria became scout parents. They did more than volunteer to lead troop meetings for boys and girls. They founded the entire scouting organization in Italy. They also were leaders in Catholic Action, a Catholic lay association, in their country. And they created an organization to help the sick travel to Lourdes on pilgrimages. During World War II, they even hid Jews in their home to protect them from arrest. But it was the way Luigi and Maria lived out their faith as a family—through family prayer, participating in the sacraments together, and serving the poor as a family—which inspired their children. One of their sons became a priest; one son became a monk; one daughter became a nun; and their last child, while never marrying, is being considered for canonization.

Blessed Frederic Ozanam (1813-1853) was one of the founders of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, an organization that has now spread all over the globe to care for the poor. Yet he was also a writer, a scholar, and a dad. Saint Leopold III (1073-1136) was the military ruler of Austria, but he was also the devoted father of eighteen children. Blessed Charles I of Austria (1887-1922) became the emperor of Austria and king of Hungary following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He was also a good and loving father to his eight children and tried, unsuccessfully, to bring a peaceful end to World War I.

When war, injustice, and Catholic persecution threaten their families and their countries, some men stand up for peace, justice, and the truth, risking their very lives. While some of those men earn awards from their countries for their brave service as soldiers, others earn the crown of martyrdom. Catholic fathers from China, England, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Vietnam, and Wales have been beatified and canonized as martyrs.

Perhaps the most dramatic example of such martyrs occurred in Italy in 1480. Muslim Turks attacked the coastal city of Otranto as part of their plan to conquer Europe. Eight hundred and thirteen men of the city were captured, lined up, and ordered to convert to Islam or die. All 813 men refused and were executed. The relics of these martyrs are the gruesome but moving centerpiece of an altar in the cathedral of Otranto, reminding us the faith and courage of these ordinary family men.

Blessed Odoardo Focherini (1907-1944) was born in Carpi, Italy, into a Catholic family. He met his future wife, Maria Marchesi, when he was eighteen years old. Five years later, they married. In short order, they became the happy parents of a large and growing family.

To support his family, he worked at a Catholic insurance company, and later he became an inspector. In 1939, he became the managing director of a Catholic newspaper. He also served as the president of Catholic Action, organized diocesan events, and led eucharistic congresses.

Italy’s Prime Minister Benito Mussolini and his fascist party led Italy into joining World War II on the Nazi side in 1940. Mussolini also implemented anti-Semitic laws in Italy. He insinuated that he did so primarily to placate Hitler, but he made some anti-Semitic remarks of his own.

In 1942, during the middle of the war, a cardinal from Genoa told the editor of Odoardo’s newspaper that a train of injured people had arrived in the city. Jewish refugees were also on that train. The editor trusted Odoardo and asked him to do what he could to protect those Jews from arrest. Odoardo quietly did so.

In 1942, most of the world did not know what a hell on earth the Nazis had created in their concentration camps. It wasn’t until the end of the war that Allied forces discovered the crematoria, the emaciated survivors, and the rooms full of gold teeth and other valuables that the Nazis had looted from their millions of dead victims. But everyone knew how much Hitler and the Nazis hated the Jewish people, and even during the war, people were certain that those who were deported to Nazi concentration camps were facing a dangerous and probably deadly outcome.

After talking it over in private with his wife, Odoardo made his own dangerous decision. He created an underground network in Bologna to provide identity cards to Jews. He somehow obtained blank identity cards, filled them with false names, and secretly gave them to Jewish refugees, whom he accompanied to the Swiss border. In this way, he helped 100 Jews reach freedom. Those who worked with him later stated that, despite the constant danger of being arrested, Odoardo was always calm and encouraged them to continue this selfless work.

His illegal efforts to save Jews continued until March 11, 1944. That’s the day that he went to a concentration camp near the city of Carpi and convinced them to release Enrico Donati, a Jewish medical doctor, on the pretense that he was needed for an urgent surgery. When Odoardo later arrived at the hospital, he was arrested.

Odoardo was imprisoned and then sent to various concentration camps in Italy and Germany. He died of an infected leg wound on December 27, 1944, in the Hersbruck concentration camp.

In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus told a parable that is often called the parable of the prodigal son, but some people prefer to call it the parable of the forgiving father. The father in that parable loves his children, wants only what is best for them, is constantly looking for ways to help them when they are in need, and is prodigal—lavishly extravagant—in bestowing forgiveness and mercy upon them, whether they deserve it or not.

Those are the hallmarks of our Heavenly Father. And that is the image of profound fatherly charity and concern that men like Blessed Odoardo Focherini and the other saintly fathers have left behind for all God’s children.