[1] He became noted for his defense of the poor and for selflessness during World War II in tending to the homeless and wounded despite the devastating air raids while placing himself at risk in doing so.

He served as a town councilor for some time after the war and helped in restoration efforts though he died in an accident before election as a Christian Democrat candidate.

[3] In Rimini, Marvelli attended the Salesian "oratorio" school and was involved with the Catholic Action group in his parish from the age of twelve.

[3] During the German occupation he saved numerous people from deportation to the concentration camps and he freed them from the carriages of the trains that had been sealed in readiness for leaving the station at Santarcangelo.

[2] Marvelli was killed in the evening of 5 October 1946 when a van belonging to the armed forces struck him on a dark road as he cycled to a polling station for an election meeting.

The then-Prelate of Loreto, Archbishop Angelo Comastri, speaking on Vatican Radio, said that "one can be in politics and be a saint" as shown by Marvelli's life.

Alberto Marvelli was declared to be Venerable on 22 March 1986 after Pope John Paul II affirmed that he had lived a life of heroic virtue.

On 23 January 1998, meeting in Rome, the Congregation confirmed the validity of the investigation and on 14 November 2002 a panel of medical experts declared they could find no scientific explanation for the healing believed to have been worked at the intercession of Marvelli.

John Paul II issued final assent needed for the miracle on 7 July 2003 and personally beatified Marvelli in Loreto on 5 September 2004.