Childhood and education

Rolando Maria Rivi was born on 7 January 1931 in the rural San Valentino as the second of three sons to Roberto Rivi (30 October 1903 – 22 October 1992) and Albertina Canovi; he received his baptism on 8 January from the parish priest Luigi Lemmi.^[4] His birthplace was located in the foothills of the Apennines between the Secchia and Tresinaro rivers. His paternal grandparents were Alfonso Rivi and Anna Ferrari who had moved to Levizzano-Baiso to work the land there and since the 1920s lived in a large house named "Poggiolo" with their nine children of whom Roberto was the eldest son. Sergio Rivi was a brother of his.^[3] His father spent some months in Zadar and Istria from 1923 until 1927 when he returned home and got married.^[2]

Rolando grew up educated in the faith due to the influence of his mother and in the strong religious atmosphere was a fixture in his parish. Before going to work in the fields each morning he attended the celebration of the Mass and received the Eucharist after he made his First Communion.^[1] In this atmosphere of strong religious faith he grew along with his older brother Guido and little sister Rosanna. His exuberance and liveliness often proved a test to his parents but his grandmother Anna sensed his good character and said once that "Rolando will become either a rascal or a saint! He can not walk the middle ground".^[4]

In 1937 he began attending the local school and his teachers, Clotilde Selmi and the catechist Antoinette Maffei, noted his desire to know and love Jesus. He was admitted to receive his First Communion almost at once because he was among the better prepared children and eager to do so.^[1] This took place on 16 June 1938, on the Feast of Corpus Christi. Rolando changed after that event: while remaining amiable and energetic he became more mature and responsible, a change which was accentuated after receiving his Confirmation on 24 June 1940 from the Bishop of Reggio Emilia Eduardo Brettoni.

Seminarian

In the meantime his parish priest Marzocchini Olinto (who in March 1934 took the place of the deceased Lemmi) became his teacher and a spiritual father. Rivi availed himself to the Sacrament of Penance each week and each morning he got up to serve Mass and receive the Eucharist.^[2] He was almost 11 when he was no longer able to ignore the beginnings of his vocation to the priesthood and he said to his parents and grandparents: "I want to be a priest to save many souls. I will go as a missionary to make Jesus known, far far away". His pious parents did not oppose the decision and after he completed his schooling he commenced his ecclesial studies in Marola in Carpineti on 1 October 1942.^[1][4] As was the custom he wore the cassock from the moment he entered as a seminarian and was proud of the garment viewing it as a sign of his belonging to Christ and to the church. His spiritual mentor at this time was Alfredo Castagnetti.

Rolando was forced to leave his studies and return home in June 1944 after the Nazi forces occupied the Italy but he persisted in wearing his cassock with pride. This was against the wishes of his parents, who were worried about rising anti-religious sentiment in the area and incidents of violence against those associated with the Church, but Rolando would not give in and continued to wear it, even in vacations periods and during the hot summer months.^[1][3] He told his parents: "I am studying to be a priest and these clothes are the sign that I belong to Jesus". He liked music and could use a harmonium. People in his village admired him for his holiness and even his father admired him and said once: "My son is so good and studious". Two of his uncles died during World War II on the frontlines. Rolando read Divini Redemptoris, an encyclical that that Pope Pius XI had issued in 1937.

Abduction and murder

On the morning of 10 April 1945, at the tail end of the war, Rolando served Mass and then returned home to collect some books before going to the woods, as he where he liked to do. A group of Communist partisans abducted him. At midday his worried parents noticed he had not returned for lunch so went to the woods to find him. There they came across his books scattered around and on them a note for his parents which said: "Do not search for him. He is coming with us for a little while".^[3]

The partisans accused Rolando of collaborating with the Fascists to defeat them and they beat and insulted him, stripping him of the cassock, which upset him greatly.^[1] He was taken from the woods some 25 kilometers away, to a farm that served as the partisans' hideout and he was locked up in the pigpen.^[2] The men struck him on the legs with his own belt as they inveighed against the priesthood and the Church. Some of the partisans were for letting the boy go, saying he was just a child, but the verdict was that he was to die and those who seemed still to be wavering were told: "Shut up or you will have this same fate".^[4]

On 12 April, the commander of this group of partisans – the Garibaldi Brigade – said: "Tomorrow one priest less" even though Roland was not a priest. The group murdered him on 13 April out of their hatred of the faith. Rolando was taken to a shallow grave that had been dug and made to kneel on the edge but he told them: "Allow me the time to say a prayer for my father and mother". He was weeping at his prayers when two of the partisans each fired a shot with their pistols. He was killed instantly by one bullet to the heart and another to the left temple.^[3][4] It was just after 3:00pm. The men buried him and rolled his cassock into a ball, which they kicked about before abandoning it at the door of a random house. On the evening of 14 April Rolando's father and the priest Alberto Camellini, curate of San Valentino, found Rolando's corpse in the grave and saw it was covered in bruises with the two fatal wounds evident. On 15 April the two of them took his remains to wash and compose it for the funeral. He was buried in the San Valentino graveyard on 29 May 1945 but the body was later reburied inside the church on 26 June 1997.^[2]

In 1951, the Assize Court of Lucca found the 16-year-old Giuseppe Corghi (who had fired the first shot) and 26-year-old Delciso Rioli (the partisan commander) guilty of Rolando's murder, sentencing them both to 23 imprisonment. The sentence was confirmed by the Appeals Court of Florence and subsequently by the supreme court in 1952, the final sentence being of 22 years. However, they both served their time only until 1957 when they were allowed to benefit from amnesty legislation which had been proposed by the then-Minister of Justice, the Communist Palmiro Togliatti.^[3]

Legacy

Rivi became noted in his town and the surrounding areas for his holiness and for his deep and unwavering faith to Jesus Christ. He was best remembered for his love of the cassock which he believed made him one who belonged to Christ and his church. His figure became more well known in 2001 after news broke that the English child James Blacknall (b. 1998) was cured of leukemia on 4 April 2001 after a hair and blood relic of Rivi was placed under his pillow with a novena said.^[2]

Even the L'Osservatore Romano issued two articles on Rivi twice on 12 April 2000 and on 16 January 2004.