Father Francesco Bertoglio: Hiding Jews as seminarians
Father Franceso Bertoglio, Rector of the Pontifical Lombard Seminary in 1943, hid hundreds of Jews from the Nazis in the seminary in Rome. He dressed some of them as seminarians in order to protect them.
In 1943, in the midst of the Second World War, Pope Pius XII urged Catholic institutions to help Jews who were being persecuted by Hitler's Nazi regime. In Rome, one of the many people who risked their lives responding to the Pope’s call was Francesco Bertoglio, who served as the rector of the Pontifical Lombard Seminary. In a Rome Report video, the current president says that hundreds of Jews were sneaked in. They were dressed as seminarians to make them blend in.
The Nazis burst into the seminary, arrested some of the Jews as well as the Rector, who was only released after the intervention of the Vatican.
When Bertoglio was ordained a bishop, he wore a cross, which was a gift that was given to him, by the Jews he saved. He died in 1970. Thirty one years later, on June 29, 2010, the State of Israel recognized him as a “Righteous among the Nations” for risking his life for the Jewish people.
View the video clip here
Memorial to the Jesuit Righteous Among the Nations