Saint Who?
Saints Who Fostered Vocations to the Priesthood
Saint Justin Russolillo
Priest and founder († 1955)Feast: August 2
“The Lord created me exclusively and totally for himself…. He wants me as his priest, for himself, as if he couldn’t live without me. In fact, without the priest, he would not live his Eucharistic life. He willed it, and he willed me!” Born near Naples in 1891, Justin was a devout child, who loved reading the lives of the saints and made his First Communion at five. But his wish to enter seminary was complicated by family finances. When a request of help from a generous local landowner was denied, his mother told him, “Don’t be afraid, Justin, your mother will send you to the seminary even if she has to pawn her eyeballs.”
Justin was ordained a priest in 1913. At his ordination he promised to spend his life cultivating religious vocations. He was very good at working with young people and helping them discern calls to consecrated life. He knew from experience the financial burden a vocation could bring and yearned to alleviate it.
After many setbacks, he opened his first “Vocationary,” a home where young men could live while discerning their call. He also founded the Society of Divine Vocations, a congregation dedicated to fostering vocations. Justin died of leukemia in 1955. He was beatified in 2011 and canonized in 2022.
Beloved Father, through the prayers and teaching
of Saint Justin Russolillo, bless those discerning
a vocation with the help they need.
