Dominic Savio was an Italian student of John Bosco. He was studying to be a priest when he became ill and died at the age of 14, possibly from pleurisy. He was noted for his piety and devotion to the Catholic faith, and was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII in 1954.
Tortona is a comune of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. Its frazione of Vho is a member of the I Borghi più belli d'Italia association.
Monsignor Lorenzo Perosi was an Italian composer of sacred music and the only member of the Giovane Scuola who did not write opera. In the late 1890s, while he was still only in his twenties, Perosi was an internationally celebrated composer of sacred music, especially large-scale oratorios. Nobel Prize winner Romain Rolland wrote, "It's not easy to give you an exact idea of how popular Lorenzo Perosi is in his native country." Perosi's fame was not restricted to Europe. A 19 March 1899 New York Times article entitled "The Genius of Don Perosi" began, "The great and ever-increasing success which has greeted the four new oratorios of Don Lorenzo Perosi has placed this young priest-composer on a pedestal of fame which can only be compared with that which has been accorded of late years to the idolized Pietro Mascagni by his fellow-countrymen." Gianandrea Gavazzeni made the same comparison: "The sudden clamors of applause, at the end of the [19th] century, were just like those a decade earlier for Mascagni." Perosi worked for five Popes, including Pope Pius X who greatly fostered his rise.
The Sons of Divine Providence, commonly called the Orionine Fathers, is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded in 1903 by Luigi Orione (1872–1940) in Turin, Italy. Its members add the nominal letters F.D.P. after their names to indicate membership in the congregation. It is dedicated to helping the poor and is currently active in 23 nations.
John Melchior Bosco, SDB, popularly known as Don Bosco, was an Italian Catholic priest, educator, writer, and saint of the 19th century. While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the ill effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment, a method that became known as the Salesian Preventive System.
Joseph Cafasso was an Italian Catholic priest who was a significant social reformer in Turin. He was one of the so-called "Social Saints" who emerged during that particular era. He is known as the "Priest of the Gallows" due to his extensive work with those prisoners who were condemned to death. But he was also known for his excessive mortifications despite his frail constitution: he neglected certain foods and conditions to remain as frugal and basic as possible unless a doctor ordered otherwise.
The Catholic Church in Uruguay is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Gaetano Catanoso was an Italian Catholic priest and the founder of the Suore Veroniche del Santo Volto (1934). Catanoso served as a parish priest in two different parishes for his entire ecclesial life and was an ardent devotee of the Face of Jesus which he promoted to the faithful. He also founded the Poor Clerics to encourage vocations to the priesthood while forming the Confraternita del Santo Volto (1920) to spread devotion to the Face of Jesus. He dedicated his pastoral career to bringing the Gospel message to all people and hiked or rode on a mule to reach distant and surrounding mountain villages in order to evangelize to people.
Pontecurone is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located on the left bank of the Curone, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of Turin and about 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of Alessandria.
Michele Rua was an Italian Catholic priest and professed member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. Rua was a student under Don Bosco and was also the latter's first collaborator in the order's founding as well as one of his closest friends. He served as the first Rector Major of the Salesians following Bosco's death in 1888. He was responsible for the expansion of the Salesians and the order had grown to a significant degree around the world at the time he died. Rua served as a noted spiritual director and leader for the Salesians known for his austerities and rigid adherence to the rule. It was for this reason that he was nicknamed "the living rule".
The Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians is a Pontifical church and Marian shrine in Turin, Italy. The building was originally part of the safehouse for poor boys cared for by Don Bosco, it now contains the remains of Bosco, and six thousand numbered relics of other Catholic saints.
Giovanni Calabria was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who dedicated his life to the plight of the poor and the ill. He established two congregations, the Poor Servants of Divine Providence and the Poor Sisters Servants of Divine Providence. to take better care of poor people in various Italian cities and later abroad while underpinning the need to promote the message of the gospel to the poor.
Leonardo Murialdo was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the co-founder of the Congregation of Saint Joseph - also known as the Murialdines. Murialdo's call to the priesthood did not manifest until late in his education in Savona; he pursued his ecclesial studies and was ordained as such in 1851 before dedicating himself to social work alongside the poor and with adolescent men. This put him into contact with other priests of the era such as Giovanni Bosco and Giuseppe Cafasso who held Murialdo in great esteem. His zeal for social concern saw his frequent calls for an end to worker exploitation and the granting of further rights to workers in factories.
Federico Albert was an Italian Roman Catholic priest. He established the Vincentian Sisters of Mary Immaculate, also known as the Albertines - and he established this order in order to work with the poor of Turin.
Giuseppe Allamano was an Italian Roman Catholic priest. He established the Consolata Missionaries (I.M.C.) congregation for males and another for females, known as the Consolata Missionary Sisters. Allamano also served as the rector of the Santuario della Consolata and transformed the shrine into a source of spiritual renewal for the faithful.
Luigi Variara was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He served for most of his life as part of the missions in Colombia where he worked with lepers and the children of outcast lepers. He was ordained as a priest while serving there and made it his mission to provide both relief and consolation.
Giovanni Maria Boccardo was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, brother of Luigi Boccardo, and the founder of the Poor Daughters of Saint Cajetan. Boccardo tended to victims of a cholera epidemic in 1884 and was forced to resign all positions in his parish in 1911 due to illness that confined him to his bed. He was the elder brother of Blessed Luigi Boccardo.
Luigi Versiglia, S.D.B. was an Italian Catholic prelate and professed member from the Salesians of Don Bosco who served as the first Apostolic Vicar of Shaoguan from 1920 until his murder. He was also a former novice master noted for his strict austerities and discipline but for his loving and compassionate care of the poor and defenceless. He led the first Salesian expedition to China in 1906 and remained there until his death functioning for the people in various capacities such as a gardener and barber.
Giuseppe Cognata was an Italian Catholic bishop and member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He was the founder of the Salesian Oblates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a female religious institute of pontifical right. Due to accusations that were proved false many years after, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemned Mgr. Cognata to be dismissed of his condition of Bishop on 20 December 1939. Monsignor Giuseppe Cognata in Easter 1962 was reinstated by Pope John XXIII in the Episcopate, after the true came out. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced on 17 February 2020 that Pope Francis has given consent to open the Cause of Beatification of Mons. Giuseppe Cognata, S.D.B.
