Blessed Placido Riccardi (15th March)

Tomaso Riccardi was born in Trevi in 1844, in a house opposite the Duomo (see the Trevi walk).  He became a monk at San Paolo Fuore le Mure, Rome.  It was here that he took the name Placido.  He was arrested as a deserter in 1870 when he tried to avoid military service, and had to spend a short time in the army thereafter.

He served as chaplain on the nuns of San Magno, Amelia (see the walk around Amelia) in the period 1877-87.  (This nunnery was dependent upon San Paolo Fuore le Mure).

He then moved to the Abbazia di Farfa, where he spent the next twenty years as rector.  He presided over the rejuvenation of monastic life at the abbey and was venerated by the local people.  When he became paralysed in 1915, he returned to San Paolo fuore le Mure to die. 

Pope Pius XII beatified him in 1954 and his body was returned to Farfa in 1957.