On November 21, 2025, the Holy Father authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the Decree of Martyrdom of the Servant of God, Fr. Martino Capelli SCJ, a professed member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians).

Born Nicola, Capelli is originally from Nembro in Val Seriana (Bergamo, Italy), where he was born on September 20, 1912. In 1930, he professed his first vows, taking the name Brother Martino di Maria Addolorata, and was ordained a priest on June 26, 1938. His dream was to become a missionary, but his Superiors sent him to Rome to study. From 1939 to 1942, he enrolled at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, where he earned a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture, and then continued his studies at the Urbaniana University. In 1943, he was recalled to teach Sacred Scripture in Bologna, where the imminent outbreak of war and the threat of bombing were increasingly felt, forcing the religious community to relocate several times.

In July 1944, the community settled in a small mountain town, which was at the center of reprisals and roundups. Father Martino exposed himself to administering the last sacraments to the executed, helping the displaced, and putting out fires. His charity, offered without preference toward one side or the other, aroused the distrust of all. His final mission led him to another town, Sarzano, where, together with the Salesian priest Elia Comini, they dedicated themselves to the evangelization of the peasants and partisans. He refused to be transferred to a safer area and, on September 29, 1944, they were arrested by German forces and executed by machine gun fire two days later, along with 44 other prisoners.

• For more information, see his full biography