St. John XXIII

Their story

Angelo Roncalli was born in 1881 in Sotto il Monte, a village near Bergamo in northern Italy, the fourth of thirteen children in a family of poor farmers. He entered the seminary as a boy and was ordained in 1904. During the First World War he served as a medical orderly and military chaplain. He later spent many years as a Vatican diplomat in Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. During the Second World War he helped many Jewish refugees escape the Nazis. He then served as papal nuncio to France and, in 1953, became patriarch of Venice. In 1958, at nearly 77, Roncalli was elected pope and took the name John XXIII. Many expected him to be a quiet, temporary pope. Instead, within three months he announced that he would call an ecumenical council, the first in nearly a century. The Second Vatican Council opened on October 11, 1962, the date now kept as his feast. He hoped it would open the windows of the Church to let in fresh air, renewing the Church's life and reaching out to other Christians and the modern world. John XXIII was warm, humble and full of humor. He visited prisoners and sick children in Rome, and during the Cuban Missile Crisis he pleaded for peace. His last great letter, Pacem in Terris, called for peace among all nations. He died on June 3, 1963, beloved around the world as "Good Pope John." Pope Francis canonized him in 2014.