Matteo Farina

Matteo Farina was born on 19 September 1990 in Avellino as the second of two children born to Miky Farina and Paola Sabbatini; his elder sister was Erika. For his confirmation he selected his older sister to be his sponsor due to their close relationship. Farina also had a dream one night, in which he saw Padre Pio of Pietrelcina who revealed to him the secret of Christian happiness, urging him to spread this knowledge to others; this dream made him realize that he was meant to evangelize to lead others to God. Throughout his life, he had a deep devotion to Francis of Assisi and to Padre Pio and would recite the rosary each day and read the Gospel; he also made his confession once a week and attended Eucharistic Adoration.

 From his father he acquired a strong liking for music, and he was trained to play several musical instruments by his father while with his friends and he formed a music band called "No Name". His friends would often refer to Farina as "the moralizer" since he often spoke about God and encouraged peace. He also had a passion for chemistry and considered continuing his studies in the environmental engineering field. He liked information technology during his time at school. Matteo created a fund for the missions in Mozambique and deposited his savings there while urging his parents to replace Christmas shopping with sending something to the poor of Africa. In April 2007, he began dating a girl named Serena and referred to her once as "the most beautiful gift that the Lord could give."

It was 2003, when he first began experiencing severe headaches and vision problems and so he travelled with his parents to Hannover for a brain biopsy. On their return he believed his health problems were over, but the tests soon showed an extended edema in his brain with malignant cells. Matteo had a severe seizure ten months later and found his vision was impaired. This forced him to go to Germany for a craniotomy operation to remove a third-degree brain tumour. He spent over a month undergoing chemotherapy in Milan and was able to return to return on the day Pope John Paul II died. He had periodic checks until 2007 when it was believed that the disease was regressing; but he experienced the first recurrence in December. In October 2008 checks for second recurrence were discovered, at which stage his mother felt it was appropriate for him to receive the anointing of the sick. Matteo had three operations to remove the tumour, but his condition worsened. He returned to Brindisi in February with paralysis of his arm and left leg and began using a wheelchair to move around. In late March he had a high fever and was admitted to hospital. His doctors were unable to do anything more for Matteo and advised him to return home. He died on the 24 April 2009. 

Farina's reputation for personal holiness was evident throughout his life. This led to the introduction of his beatification process on 11 April 2016, just seven years after his death, when he assumed the title Servant of God. On 5 May 2020 he was declared venerable.