In Benevento, in a family rich in noble traditions and good examples, on 25th July 1880, a baby, the seventh of nine children, came to rejoice his home and the world with his gift of innocence.

Moscati's house in Benevento

His birth brought great happiness to his parents, Francis and Rosa Moscati, as they gave thanks to God for the seventh time. He was baptised in the parish church of St. Mark on 31st July, and was given the names Joseph Mario Charles Alphonse.

Those were troubled years. Sectarian ideas and a spirit of revolt against the Church and the Pope prevailed everywhere. Francis Moscati, little Joseph’s father, was a courageous magistrate and a staunch Christian and managed to resist the stormy seas of the times, showing to everybody that a sincere and living faith does not fear, but overcomes.

Perhaps Francis Moscati’s robust faith influenced his child, who later on recognised its worth and considered it as the most precious inheritance from his father’s heart and soul.

In the serene environment of their family, the children grew up docile and obedient to their parents’ guidance, surrounded by their mutual love and nourished by prayer and good example. In 1884, his father was transferred to Naples as President of Court.

Little Joseph made his First Communion on 27th December 1890 in the church of the Servants of the Sacred Heart. Monsignor Henry Marano, a prelate highly esteemed in Naples because of his knowledge and holy life, prepared him for it.

Thus, Joseph spent his childhood on studying, practising virtue and prayer. He was a shining example of pure candour. He will always love purity. Later on he was to say, "We belong to the Immaculate Lamb, the Spotless Lamb. Chastity must be our ornament, the sign that we belong to Him, the symbol of our immortality."

Just as previously, at the Grammar School, at the Lyceum he continued his serious study, assiduous practice of piety, and spirit of perseverance, so that his professors held him up as an example to his mates. He was of gentle and kindly disposition, deeply sincere and serene, even though he was sometimes too outspoken. Thanks to his all-embracing intellect and his uprightness of character, he conquered the obstacles given by the corruption of the religious doctrine by materialistic theories and by a dangerous freethinking environment. Thus, in the final examinations of 1897 he obtained Secondary School Certificate (specializing in classical studies) with the highest mark.

Saint Joseph Moscati and the Blessed Bartolo Longo [Pompei]

Now he was faced with the choice of a career. Which path should he follow? He turned with great devotion to prayer, pondering on his inclinations, his capabilities and his ideals, and finally decided on medicine. This was a field in which he might have practised, as well as his profession, a mission for good, almost a priestly ministry. He enrolled at Naples University in 1897.

His life as university student, apart from the subjects he studied, followed the pattern of the previous years. He was always dedicated to duty, shunning revelries and practical jokes, pious and recollected. Always-daily Communion and heartfelt prayer. Even study meant prayer to him.

On 19th December of that first year at university, God tried him by sorrow: his father was taken ill while in church and died two days later, after having requested and received the Last Sacraments. Joseph, though intensely grieved, became the consoling angel of his mother and sister. "God takes the place of those He has taken to himself", he wrote to a friend in similar circumstances. God, therefore, became ever more truly his beloved father. On 2nd March 1900, his soul was further enriched by the strength and light of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of Confirmation.

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E-mail: moscati@gesuiti.it