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Venerable Enrico Beretta

Venerable Enrico Beretta Also known as

Alberto Maria de Milano
Alberto Beretta
Alberto of Milan

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The seventh of thirteen children born to Alberto and Maria Beretta, Enrico was raised in a pious family – one sister is Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, another a Canossian missionary, and a brother was a priest who served in the Roman Curia. Enrico graduated with a medical degree in 1942 at age 26, serving as a physician and surgeon. He soon became a Franciscan Capuchin novice in Lovere, Italy, but had to leave and report to Florence, Italy for military service in World War II. When the Fascists fell, Enrico returned home and resumed his studies and novitiate, eventually taking the name Alberto Maria.

Ordained a priest on 13 March 1948 in the archdiocese of Milan, Italy by Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster. In 1949 he became a missionary in the Prelatura of Grajaú, Maranhão, Brazil. In addition to his spiritual duties, Father Alberto ran a clinic and surgical center, serving for the next 33 years. He befriended and worked with Venerable Marcello Candia in his medical service to lepers. However, in 1981, at age 65, Alberto was forced to retire from practice after suffering a stroke. Paralyzed and unable to speak, Alberto eventually moved in with his brother, Monsignor Joseph, in Borogo Canale area of Bergamo, Italy where he spent his remaining 20 years.