Jesus, I Surrender Myself To You, The Life of Don Dolindo Ruotolo

Book Review: Jesus, I Surrender Myself To You, The Life of Don Dolindo Ruotolo

Hardcover: $29.95: 299 Pages: Copyright 2026: TAN Books

By Marianne Zanko Komek

TAN Books recently published Don Dolindo Ruotolo’s biography, co-authored by Grazia Ruotolo, his niece, and an Italian journalist, Luciano Regolo. It was translated from the Italian by Maria Palma Smith.

Included in the book is Don Dolindo’s complete “Surrender Novena.” It’s a simple and moving way of abandonment to Divine Providence, with total trust in Jesus, asking Him to take care of all your concerns and petitions. Don Dolindo said, “A thousand prayers cannot compare to a single act of surrender. Remember this well. There is no more effective novena than this: O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!”

St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, a contemporary of Servant of God Don Dolindo Ruotolo, called him “the apostle of Naples.” The saint asked people who visited him from that Italian city why they didn’t seek counsel from Don Dolindo instead of himself. The two met at San Giovanni Rotondo, where St. Pio resided. Don Dolindo sought reassurance about his vocation, to which St. Pio replied, “Heaven has always been with you.”

The two priests shared similar fates. Both were extraordinarily pious, sacrificing priests who were misunderstood and questioned by ecclesiastical authorities in the Roman Catholic Church. Don Dolindo was suspended twice from active priestly ministry. The first time, two years after his ordination, was brief; the second time lasted almost seventeen years. Yet he accepted this without bitterness or blaming anyone.

His extensive Scripture commentary, La Sacra Scrittura, was condemned. His works were later “better understood and rehabilitated with ecclesiastical support.” During this period, he surrendered himself in obedience to the Church and did not lose his love for her.
Followers were attracted by his simplicity and devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Pio and Don Dolindo both performed physical healings and could bilocate. The two clergymen were present during the horrors of World War II in Italy, and came to the aid of their flocks. They led austere lives and practiced mortifications. Don Dolindo ate very little and slept two hours a night. He ministered at all hours to his parishioners, comforting them and trying to convert hardened sinners. Celebrating Holy Mass was the high point of his day because he loved Jesus in the Eucharist and dedicated his life to evangelizing. He travelled and gave spiritual lectures.

On July 2, 1965, Don Dolindo prophesied the election of St. John Paul II, who would facilitate the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Don Dolindo prayed the rosary and was devoted to the Blessed Mother. He told women who followed him: “Mary uplifted the Divine Infant, as I, a priest, uplift the consecrated Host…She wrapped him in swaddling clothes with her most pure, virginal hands, which were like the humeral veil of the priest. And she laid him in the manger, recognizing Him as the Victim for the Cross…O my daughters, I don’t know what to say!”

He believed in the Fatima message about consoling Mary by praying the rosary for the conversion of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. There was a replica of the Lourdes grotto in his parish.

The name, “Dolindo” means pain in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows. He was subjected to suffering since childhood when he had an abusive father who locked him in the basement. He was frightened, but even this he resigned himself to, not hating his parent. In later years, his father said, “I feel that you will not be an ordinary priest, but an apostle, and I believe that it was not by chance that I treated you so badly since childhood.”

At the end of his life, the humble priest was homebound due to paralysis.

Don Dolindo cherished his mother, Lady Silvia, who taught her children to love God. He waited for her when she returned from 5:00 a.m daily Mass. He told her, at the age of three or four, “I will be a priest.” His longing to serve God in this way was fulfilled, and he has brought many souls to Christ.

Recently, there has been a resurgence in the Surrender Novena as a popular Catholic devotion. Miracles are attributed to his intercession. What started with devotees in Italy of Servant of God Don Dolindo has spread throughout Europe and the United States. He is continuing his work for Jesus from heaven, teaching souls to love Jesus with total surrender to Him.

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