-
Pope John Paul XXIII was born on 25 November 1881 to parents Giovanni Battista Roncalli and Marianna Giulia Mazzolla. He was born in Sotto il Monte, Bergamo in Lombardy Italy.
-
-
In 1892 he began his training as a priest at the Bergamo seminary. It was here that he was taught how to make spiritual notes; which is something he continued to do until his death.
-
From 1901 to 1905, he was enrolled as a student at the Pontifical Roman Seminary.
-
On the 10th of August 1904 he was ordained as a priest at Santa Maria in Monte Santo in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo. One year later, in 1905, he was made secretary to the new Bishop of Bergamo.
-
When Italy fought in World War I in 1915 he was enlisted as a sergeant in the medical corps. He also worked as a chaplain; comforting and praying for the wounded soldiers.
-
In 1921, he was called to Rome by the Holy See and Pope Benedict, to be the president of the Italian Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
-
Pius XI appointed him Apostolic Visitator in Bulgaria in 1925, which made him episcopate with the titular Diocese of Areopolis. He made his motto Oboedientia et Pax, which means Obiedience and Peace, which guided him through the rest of his life.
-
In 1944 he was made papal nuncio for France.
-
In 1958 he was elected as Pope and he chose the name John XXIII. During this time he did many Christian duties such as helping the sick and visiting the imprisoned.
-
In 1963 he tragically died of stomach cancer.