Salvo D’Acquisto

 

 Ypu can read the original text here.

 Young Man Who Took the Blame for a Crime He Didn’t Commit and Saved 22 People to Be Canonized

 

Pope Francis Approves the Beatification of Italian War Hero Salvo D’Acquisto

It was the year 1943, and the hardships of World War II had spread across all of Italy. On September 23rd, when German troops occupied the town of Palidoro, near Rome, a bomb exploded in an abandoned barracks, injuring the invading soldiers.

 

A soldier like many others amid the Nazi invasion

In retaliation, the Nazis arrested 22 people from the town, chosen at random—shopkeepers and street vendors who suddenly became hostages. As if that weren’t enough, they sought out the highest-ranking military officer. They couldn’t find one in the town itself, but in a nearby village, they captured Salvo D’Acquisto, a 23-year-old deputy brigadier in the police force known as the “Carabinieri.”

The young officer was tasked with identifying who among the prisoners had planted the bomb that exploded when the Germans occupied the barracks. D’Acquisto explained that none of those people could have done it—they were simple civilians. But the Germans tortured him and warned that if he didn’t name the culprit, all 22 would be executed.

Salvo and the prisoners were then taken to the beach, where a German officer lined them up and asked each one if they were responsible for the bombing. After everyone said no, he handed them shovels and ordered them to dig their own graves.

 

A death still remembered by Romans today

While digging in agony, Salvo wrestled with a redemptive idea in his heart. A quiet, shy young man, deeply religious, with intense prayer life and profound spirituality, he felt a strong inner call to bear witness to his faith with his very life.

Salvo D’Acquisto finished digging the grave assigned to him and walked up to the officer. He made the ultimate offer: his life in exchange for the freedom of the other 22. He took full responsibility for the explosion and claimed to have acted alone. The officer accepted. Placing him at the edge of the grave he had dug, he ordered a machine-gun execution. After Salvo fell, the officer fired a final shot to his face with his pistol.

Salvo D’Acquisto’s martyrdom shows that even in despair, the protection of the innocent can prevail.

This is how to live love for one’s neighbor to its ultimate consequences, as taught by Jesus.

 

A mother’s pain and the war that is always a defeat

The young soldier’s body was heroically recovered by local women, who gave him a proper burial in the town’s cemetery. In 1947, Salvo’s mother managed to have her son’s remains transferred to Naples, his hometown. There, he was honored with military ceremonies, repeated again in 1986 when his body was permanently transferred to the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

The martyrdom of Salvo D’Acquisto has become a shining example for young people. The Catholic Church recognized his heroic virtues. On February 25, 2025, Pope Francis authorized the beatification of this Christian hero and martyr.