Giovanni Fornasini
The Vatican record
- 21 January 2021 — Martyrdom recognised (decree list, 2021)
Who they were
Giovanni Fornasini was a diocesan priest, born at Pianaccio di Lizzano in Belvedere, Italy, on 23 February 1915, who was killed in hatred of the faith at San Martino di Caprara, Italy, on 13 October 1944. Pope Francis recognised his martyrdom on 21 January 2021.
The Dicastery's biography says he was ordained on 28 June 1942 and became parish priest of Sperticano, where under the German occupation he helped the displaced and pleaded for prisoners; on 13 October 1944 an SS officer took him to San Martino di Caprara, and he never came back.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
The Church recognised him as a martyr in 2021.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Giovanni Fornasini
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - beatification of 26 September 2021
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - decrees published in 2021
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - Giovanni Fornasini
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Not yet in Wikidata. Name as the Vatican spells it.
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.