Blessed John Paul I

Albino Luciani was born on 17 October 1912 at Forno di Canale, now Canale d'Agordo, in the province of Belluno. He entered the minor seminary of Feltre in 1923 and that of Belluno five years later, and was ordained priest on 7 July 1935. After service as curate at Canale d'Agordo and Agordo he was called to Belluno in 1937 as vice-rector of the Gregorian Seminary and teacher of the liceo and theology classes, a charge he held for twenty years, joining to it youth work and writing for the diocesan weekly L'Amico del Popolo. He took his doctorate in theology at the Gregorian in 1947 with a thesis on the origin of the human soul according to Antonio Rosmini, and became in turn pro-chancellor, pro-vicar, director of the catechetical office and, in 1954, vicar general.

Named Bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1958 and consecrated by Saint John XXIII, he gave priority to pastoral visits and direct contact with the faithful, took part in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, and sent missionaries to Brazil and Burundi. Saint Paul VI named him Patriarch of Venice in 1969 and created him cardinal in 1973.