Frs. Comini, Capelli, and Marchioni Beatified

The Mass of Beatification for Frs. Elijah Comini, Martin Capelli, and Ubald Marchioni

(ANS – Bologna, Italy – September 28, 2026) – On Sunday, September 27, in the basilica of St. Petronius in Bologna, Frs. Elijah Comini, a Salesian, Ubald Marchioni, a diocesan priest, slain by Nazi soldiers in the Monte Sole massacres, were beatified. The beatification ceremony took place during a solemn Mass presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, in the presence of around 350 concelebrants. Among them were Cardinal Archbishop Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, Cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life, Fr. Fabio Attard, SDB, rector major, and Fr. Carlos Luis Suarez Codorniu, superior general of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Dehonians).

It was with great emotion and a sense of profound excitement that representatives of the archdiocese of Bologna and of the 2 religious families concerned witnessed the rite of beatification, which took place at the beginning of Mass.

Profiles of the 3 priests: shepherds who did not abandon their flock

Following Cardinal Zuppi’s request for the beatification of these venerable servants of God, the postulators profiled the 3 priests: Fr. Simone Nannetti for Fr. Ubald Marchioni; Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni for Fr. Elijah Comini; and Fr. Ramon Dominguez Fraile for Fr. Martin Capelli. Cardinal Semeraro then read, on behalf of the Pope, the apostolic letter enrolling the 3 in the register of the blessed and establishing their liturgical memorial for October 13. At the foot of the altar lay the relics of the 3 priests: a Bible and a pen for Fr. Marchioni; a personal diary for Fr. Comini; and a personal writing entrusting himself to the Mother of God for Fr. Capelli.

The 3 new blesseds were presented as shepherds who, out of love for Christ and their community, chose not to abandon their flock, even when they could have saved themselves. They were not heroes, but defenseless men, deeply in love with God and their neighbor, capable of giving themselves completely to the very end.

Cardinal Semeraro then emphasized that their martyrdom sprang from a love that empties itself. It was precisely that emptiness that became the place where charity blossomed. Their witness remains an example for a wounded world yet thirsting for hope, and calls upon us to build a civilization of love and communities founded on fraternity.

Lives brought to fulfilment by love

In outlining the profiles of the new blesseds, the cardinal went on to recall that “their lives were not cut short by evil, but brought to fulfillment by love. For this reason, their blood does not cry out for vengeance but proclaims Christ.”

“Fr. Ubald chose to remain with his people,” said Cardinal Semeraro, “and fell on the steps of the altar, almost as if offering his own life together with the Eucharistic sacrifice.” As a lasting memorial to his martyrdom, the monastic community of Dossetti preserves a ciborium riddled with bullet holes, found amid the rubble of the church in Casaglia. Fr. Ubald’s father was among the few who did not oppose the plea for clemency put forward by Walter Reder, the SS major who had coordinated the Monte Sole massacre.

Fr. Elijah Comini, explained the cardinal prefect, “after celebrating what would be the last Mass of his life, truly allowed himself to be broken, like the Eucharistic bread, for the salvation of his people.” A Salesian, he was killed on October 1, 1944, at the Canapiera reservoir in Pioppe di Salvaro, after being captured while accompanying Fr. Martin Capelli to administer the last rites to the dying victims of the Creda massacre.

The latter, a Dehonian, “remained present as a shepherd,” explained the cardinal, “as a brother and as a man of God.” “His priestly fidelity became a testimony to the Open Heart of Christ.” Before becoming a priest, Fr. Martin asked the Virgin of Guadalupe for the grace to be a martyr. He died, imploring forgiveness, alongside Fr. Elijah after their arrest by the German SS and their execution by firing squad. Subsequently, their bodies were desecrated by hand grenades thrown by the soldiers. Their blood, Cardinal Semeraro concluded, is “the fragrance of a Church that does not flee, that does not abandon, that stands in solidarity alongside those who suffer.”