Padre Rocco. Il monaco di Napoli più potente del sindaco, dell'arcivescovo e anche del re

Gregorio Maria Rocco, better known simply as Father Rocco, was one of the leading figures of mid-eighteenth-century Naples. Beloved by the nobles and the common people, following in the footsteps of Saint Philip Neri, he preached charity and defended the weak from bullying, even with a cane if necessary. Realizing early on that the pulpit was not enough, he sought out the common people in the alleys, squares, and even in smoky taverns. He had a reputation as a saintly man, and with his sermons he even exhorted and admonished the court of Charles of Bourbon and his son Ferdinand. From the sovereigns of Naples, he obtained many charitable works for children and the needy, and he had votive shrines installed on the street corners of Naples, to illuminate the darkness of the night that had, for centuries, concealed the crimes of criminals.