Gennaro Maria Sarnelli

Gennaro Maria Sarnelli (12 September 1702 – 30 June 1744) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Redemptorists. Sarnelli was one of Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori's earliest companions and a prolific writer on a range of religious topics. He wanted to become a Jesuit though was dissuaded from this before working in the Hospital of the Incurables where his call to the priesthood blossomed. His apostolic zeal knew no limits: he preached missions and aided his friend Liguori in his work; he tended to the sick and helped to get girls out of prostitution despite the threats levelled against him.

Sarnelli's fame for holiness was a well-known fact during his life. His beatification cause opened in 1861 in Naples; formal introduction came in 1874 and he was named as Venerable on 2 December 1906. Pope John Paul II beatified him in mid-1996.