On the 23rd May 2024, the Holy Father Francis received in audience Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and authorized the promulgation of the decree concerning the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Enrico Medi, layman and father of a family, born in Porto Recanati on the 26th April 1911 and died in Rome on the 26th May 1974.
A man of hope and faith, of culture and science; exemplary husband and father, university lecturer and indeed an esteemed lecturer; Politician and upright administrator: these were some of the many traits that characterized the life and activity of the Venerable Enrico Medi, whose heroic exercise of the Christian virtues the Church recognizes today, fifty years after his death.
From an early age, the Servant of God based his profession of faith on radicalism and coherence, so as to be able to combine fidelity to Catholic doctrine with a thorough knowledge of the human sciences and with his personal experience. With a very intense life of prayer, with the practice of daily communion, with total obedience to the Ecclesiastical Authorities, with a silent and continuous apostolate of charity, he made a path of progressive personal sanctification that made him an authentic witness of the Gospel.
After graduating brilliantly in Terrestrial Physics in 1932, he embarked on a career as a university professor, and then at the same time embraced political commitment. In 1946 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly and in 1948 to the first Parliament of the Italian Republic. He also received prestigious positions from the world of science such as President of the National Institute of Geophysics (1949), holder of the Chair of Terrestrial Physics at the University of Rome (1952), Vice-President of Euratom in Brussels (1958-1965).
A brilliant and cultured orator, he held spiritual conferences throughout Italy, invited by many Bishops. He took part in television and radio broadcasts of popular science in which, dealing with creation, nature and its laws, he did not fail to recall discreetly, but effectively, the essential theme of faith.
In 1966 he was appointed by the Holy See as a member of the Council of the Laity. Very important was his meeting with St. Pio of Pietrelcina, of whom he was a spiritual son, and to whom he gave advice to improve the services in the House for the Relief of Suffering.
In 1970 he also fought against divorce that had been introduced in Italy and in 1971 he agreed to run for Mayor in the Municipality of Rome. In 1972 he was elected again as a Member of Parliament.
Falling ill with cancer, he died surrounded by a great reputation for holiness in Rome on the 26th May, 1974.
The Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Venerable Enrico Medi was entrusted by the Diocese of Senigallia to Rev. Fr. Luca M. De Rosa, OFM, Postulator General of the Order of Friars Minor in 2006.
