St. Gregory Barbarigo

St. Gregory Barbarigo (16 September 1625 – 18 June 1697) was born to a noble Venetian family and, after a diplomatic career, was ordained a priest and rose quickly in the Church. He was made bishop of Bergamo, then a cardinal, and finally bishop of Padua, one of the most important sees in northern Italy. Throughout his ministry he took St. Charles Borromeo as his model for the renewal of Church life along the lines laid down by the Council of Trent.

He reformed his dioceses through diligent pastoral visitation, catechesis, and generous almsgiving, and above all through the formation of the clergy. He greatly enlarged the seminary at Padua, endowing it with an outstanding library and even a printing press producing works in several languages to promote learning and reunion with the Eastern Churches. Renowned for personal austerity and charity, he was beatified in 1761 and canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1960.