Celebrating St. Joseph Pignatelli, S.J.

Celebrating the Feast of Joseph Pignatelli, S.J., Patron Saint of Wheeling Jesuit University
By HNN Staff Wheeling, WV (HNN) —

Wheeling Jesuit University will celebrate its patron saint, Joseph Pignatelli, S.J. with a special Mass, celebrated at 5:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 14. Held in the Chapel of Mary and Joseph, it is open to the public and University President, the Rev. Julio Giulietti, S.J., will preside. Joseph Pignatelli entered the Society of Jesus in 1753. In 1773, Pope Clement XIV ordered the dissolution of the Jesuit order. Although Pignatelli remained committed to his religious vows and his Jesuit brothers during the 40 plus-year suppression of the Society, he did not live to see the restoration of the order in 1814, three years after his death. Spanish by birth, Pignatelli was born in 1737 to wealthy parents who were nobles. By age nine, however, he was an orphan. He attended the Jesuit college in Saragossa, Spain and joined the Jesuits when he was 16. Serving as a prison chaplain, he carried out his ministry until Pope Clement XIV, yielding to the demands of the powerful Bourbon family, called for the dissolution of the Society of Jesus in 1773. Jesuits were banned and went into exile or became secular members of European society. Many were homeless. A total of 23,000 Jesuits were affected. However, Czarina Catherine II maintained the order in Russia, due to her respect for the Society of Jesus. When Pignatelli learned of this, he gained permission from the new pope, Pius VI, to affiliate with the Russian Jesuit province. Finding refuge in Italy, he continued to live by his Jesuit vows. He died in Rome, three years before Pius VII restored the Society of Jesus. He is considered the restorer of the Society of Jesus and was canonized in 1954, the same year Wheeling Jesuit University (then Wheeling College) was founded. One of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States, Wheeling Jesuit University offers students a high-quality private education. Since 1995 U.S. News & World Report has ranked Wheeling Jesuit University among the top institutions in its “Best Master’s Universities in the South” category. The campus is also home to the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center, the Erma Ora Byrd Center for Educational Technologies®, the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future, a Challenger Learning Center® and the Clifford M. Lewis Appalachian Institute. For complete information, please visit www.wju.edu or call 1 (800) 624-6992.

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