Famous Scientist ( Saint Giuseppe Moscati )

-: Saint Giuseppe Moscati :-

Saint Giuseppe Moscati

PSaint Giuseppe Moscati (July 25, 1880 – April 12, 1927) was an Italian doctor, scientific researcher, and university professor noted both for his pioneering work in biochemistry and for his piety. Moscati was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1987; his feast day is November 16.

Moscati was the seventh  of nine children born to a noble Beneventene family which came from the village of Santa Lucia in Serino, near Avellino. His father, Francesco, was well-known as a lawyer and magistrate in the area; his mother, Rosa De Luca dei Marchesi di Roseto, was of noble birth.

Moscati was born in Benevento in 1880; to commemorate his ties to the area, a marble statue has since been erected in the chapel of the Holy Sacrament in Benevento's cathedral. He was baptized six days after his birth, and took his first Communion at eight years old. Moscati moved with his family to Naples in 1884, and would spend much of the rest of his life in the city. During this time his family would spend its summers in Avellino, and Giuseppe would see his father serve at the altar in the local chapel of the Poor Clares whenever they attended Mass.

At the age of ten, he was confirmed into the Church, at which time his family met Bartolo Longo and spent some time in the household of Caterina Volpicelli. The latter was to become among his most important spiritual guides later in life.

After finishing his elementary schooling in 1889, Moscati entered into the Liceo Vittorio Emanuele II in Naples, where among his professors was vulcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli. In 1892 his brother, Alberto, received incurable head trauma in a fall from a horse during his military service. Observing the care which Alberto received at home inspired in Giuseppe an interest in medicine, which he pursued after graduating from the Liceo in 1897; it was in the same year that his father died. Moscati received his doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Naples in 1903. The subject of his thesis was hepatic urogenesis.

Immediately upon receiving his degree, Moscati joined the staff of the Hospital for Incurables, eventually becoming an administrator. During this time he continued to study, conducting medical research when not performing his duties at the hospital. Already recognized for his commitment to his duties, he won further recognition for his actions in the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on April 8, 1906. One of the hospitals for which Moscati was responsible, at Torre del Greco, was located a few miles from the volcano's crater. Many of its patients were elderly, and many were paralytics as well. Moscati oversaw the evacuation of the building, getting them all out just before the roof collapsed due to the ash. He sent a letter to the general director of the Neapolitan hospital service, insisting on thanking those who had helped in the evacuation, yet not mentioning his own name.

When cholera broke out in Naples in 1911, Moscati was charged by the civic government with performing public health inspections, and with researching both the origins of the disease and the best ways to eradicate it. This he did quickly, presenting his suggestions to city officials. To his satisfaction, most of these ideas were put into practice by the time of his death. Also in 1911, Moscati became a member of the Royal Academy of Surgical Medicine, and received his doctorate in physiological chemistry.