Herminius Filippo Pampuri was born in Pavia, Italy in 1897. He was the 10th of 11 children and at the age of 3, his mother died of tuberculosis and he went to live with his aunt. His father was killed in a traffic accident when he was 10. He wanted to become a missionary priest but was dissuaded because of his ill health. He loved prayer, was always a shining example of Christian virtue and openly professed the Gospel message everywhere he went. He loved the Blessed Virgin Mary and prayed the Rosary often.
After completing high school, in his interest to help the poor and sick, he enrolled in the Medical Faculty of Pavia University. He was drafted and for 5 years he was in the fighting zone of WWI, served as a sergeant and later went into training as an officer in the Medical Corps.
Following, he graduated top of his class, and after 3 years of practice with his uncle, he was appointed to the practice of Milan. For the 6 years of his practice, the majority of his patients were poor. He gave away most of his own property to help them with money, food, clothing and medicine.
He left his practice to join the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God in 1927 and his patients grieved at having lost the “holy doctor”. Even the daily press took up the story. He took the religious name of Brother Richard and was then appointed Director of the Dental Clinic. He became a model of virtue and charity to patients, doctors, paramedics and nurses. All who encountered him agreed upon his sanctity.
He suffered another outbreak of pleurisy, which he had first contracted during his miliary service. It degenerated into specific bronco-pneumonia and he was taken from Brescia to Milan for care where he died at the age of 33.
After his death, his reputation of sanctity greatly expanded throughout Italy, Europe and then the entire world, influencing with many miraculous intercessions. In 1989, he was canonized.
“The brief, but intense life of Brother Richard Pampuri is a stimulous for the entire People of God, but especially so for youth, doctors and the religious.”
His feast day is May 1.
For God’s Glory.
