Felice Tantardini (28 June 1898 - 23 March 1991) was an Italian Roman Catholic religious brother from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) who served in the Burmese missions. Tantardini worked as an apprentice blacksmith under his older brother before he enlisted in the Italian armed forces after World War I broke out in Europe. He served in the front lines but the German forces captured him and moved him from camp to camp before he and some others managed to escape their captors. He resumed his work after his return to his home province but soon set himself on entering the missions, after reading old magazines that detailed the work missionaries did. He entered PIME in 1921 and a short while later in 1922 was sent to the Burmese missions where he would spend the next seven decades. Tantardini became beloved in the missions and travelled either on foot or horseback to reach the various missions, with some located in the jungles or mountains. He became known as the "Blacksmith of God" for his work as a blacksmith in the local communities but also did work as an electrician or carpenter in order to cater to the needs of the mission communities. He toned down his work after he turned 85 when his superiors asked him to retire and he spent this time continuing to visit at a less frequent rate and reciting rosaries often in his free time. His death in 1991 prompted calls for his beatification in 1994. Initial steps to activate the cause came following this before the cause launched in mid-2000; he became titled as a Servant of God as a result. The cause culminated on 11 June 2019 after Pope Francis signed a decree that acknowledged that Tantardini had practiced heroic virtue throughout his life. Life Felice Tantardini was born on 28 June 1898 in Introbio in the Como province as the sixth of eight children to Battista Tantardini and Maria Magni. His parents were devout and would recite the rosary each evening together with their children. His brothers included Giuseppe and Primo and a sister was named Anna. He finished third grade twice in order to improve his basic education and in 1908 started to work as an apprentice blacksmith under his older brother Giuseppe in his workshop. In 1911 his father died in a tragic accident – a flashflood that overran