The Venerable Servant of God Immaculato Joseph of Jesus (Aldo Brienza) was born on August 15, 1922, in Campobasso (Italy). At the age of sixteen, while attending the Higher Technical Institute, he began to feel intense pain accompanied by very high fever. He was diagnosed with osteomyelitis which began deforming his limbs, forcing him to remain bedridden until death.
On March 25, 1943, he entered the Secular Order of Carmel, offering himself as a victim for the sanctification of priests. Since his feeling of having a Carmelite vocation was so strong, the Holy See, on March the 2nd, 1948, granted him the special privilege of making solemn profession of religious vows in the Discalced Carmelite Order, which took place on May 11, 1948.
Living with his family, he constantly received visits from fellow Secular Carmelites and the faithful, many of whom sought spiritual advice. He lived an extraordinary apostolate, carried out entirely from bed, in prayer and in the constant offering of sufferings to the Lord. In addition, he maintained correspondence with many brothers and sisters of the Carmelite Order. To everyone he repeated his spiritual motto: «Working is good, praying even better, but suffering in union with Jesus is everything».
He died in Campobasso (Italy) on April 13, 1989, at the age of 67.
The Venerable Servant of God carried out an intense apostolate from the bed of his house. Not being in a position to move, he received people in need of guidance in their spiritual journey. His teachings were very solid. His strength was prayer. As a good Carmelite, he made prayer the strong point of his life. His is a Eucharistic and Marian spirituality, also accompanied by what he had learnt from the experience of the saints, especially the Carmelite saints.
He experienced the phases of aridity described by St. John of the Cross, always maintaining his abandonment to God.
He was a person of hope because he entrusted himself to the Lord in every circumstance, especially in the most arduous trials. He lived his illness always trusting in God, striving towards eternal life with determination.
He loved God and neighbour above all other realities and, with the impression that he was not trying hard enough, he tried to improve himself tirelessly.
The offering of his pain to God on behalf of his brethren represented the central element of his charity towards his neighbour. He offered himself as a victim for priests and for those in every kind of need, realizing his self-giving in an ever increasingly full way. He supported the missions of the Church and Carmel with money received from the family, revealing a splendid passion for the apostolic activities of the Christian community.
The decree proclaiming his heroic virtues was promulgated on the 18th of February, 2022.
