Turin's Social
Saints
The Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza
Social Saints
As we all know, Turin and Piedmont are the birthplaces of great Social
Saints. Two images can help have an idea of Turin's saintliness from the
19th Century to date: a great fresco and the Alpine range around the town.
Not all elements of a fresco have the same importance, each contributes
to create the beauty of the entire work. The same applies to the Alpine
range; peaks acquire their powerful beauty also thanks to the beauty of
other lesser ones.
So we meet, among others, Saint Giovanni Bosco, Saint Joseph, the Blessed
Cottolengo, Saint Giovanni Cafasso, Giulia Colbert di Barolo, the Blessed
Faà di Bruno, Saint Leonard, the Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and the Blessed
Giuseppe Allamano.
Saint Giovanni Bosco (1815-1888)
Born at Castelnuovo d'Asti, he matched clear Faith and ardent Christian
Charity mixed with unusual common-sense and an iron will serving clear intelligence,
even as a child. In particular he understood the problems of the young people
of Turin at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution with all the social issues
involved. Saint Giovanni Bosco founded the Salesian Congregation
at Turin in 1864 on the basis of the evangeliser principles of Saint Francis
of Sales and his followers were called Salesians. He later added the Institute
of the Daughters of Mary our Lady Help of Christians to the male congregation.
In a few years' time, his tireless activity created a network of homes,
colleges, lodging-houses, schools, laboratories and recreation homes in
Italy and abroad, that have acquired world renown.
The reason for the success reached by the Apostle of Youth mainly lies in
the fact that Don Bosco wanted his oratories or recreational centres to
prepare good Christians and citizens: this is why he wanted his meeting
places to be a family, where young people could not only play but also learn
a trade and approach life seriously.
Saint Giovanni Benedetto Cottolengo (1776-1842)
A native of Bra, Saint Giovanni Benedetto Cottolengo was the vicar of the
Turin church of Corpus Domini for nine years. His real vocation was uncovered
by a dramatic episode that occurred during this period. A poor sick and
pregnant woman had reached Turin on her way to Lyons. The tuberculosis hospital
refused to take her in because she was pregnant and the maternity home wouldn't
either because she was sick. Before the statue of the Holy Mother of Grace
placed on the right side of the Church of Corpus Domini (already famed for
the episode of the Eucharistic Miracle of Turin in 1453), he received the
inspiration to create a home open to everyone, whatever disease they might
suffer from, without distinction of race or creed.
This is how his work started. He opened his first infirmary on January 17
1828, with four beds in a few rooms of the house called the red vault house
(from the colour of the entrance gate ceiling), practically in front of
his parish church. The number of patients soon increased and in 1832 he
had to move to the Valdocco district and originated what was called the
Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza (the Small House of Divine Providence).
The means for this huge enterprise were nearly exclusively a limitless trust
in Divine Providence, matched with constant prayers and sacrifices. The
Saint (always imitated by his successors) never refused to help any miserable
human being, even in the face of much hostility and misunderstanding.
Today, the Piccola Casa, which the Turinese fondly call Il Cottolengo,
is an imposing complex of buildings where all is work, prayer and charity.
Thousand of patients are cared for by nuns and volunteer workers of both
sexes. Its structure divides into various families, each with a specific
function; some perform menial duties besides caring for the sick. The most
modern and up to date kitchen, mess and health care systems are applied
in this citadel of charity.
Several Turin doctors lend their work free of charge and can apply the latest
health care means. Nursing is mainly performed by the Families of Charity,
who admirably devote their help to the needy for the love of God and their
next. Development of the Piccola Casa has been prodigious. Over 100 homes
operate in Italy and abroad today.
Saint Giuseppe Cafasso (1811-1860)
A native of Castelnuovo, he was the apostle of prisons and the comforter of those condemned to the death penalty, and was also called the gallows priest for this. He is the patron Saint of prison chaplains. A monument has been erected to his memory at the road crossing of Corso Regina Margherita, Corso Principe Eugenio and Corso Valdocco (called the Rondò della Forca or the Gallows Roundabout).
Giulia Colbert Marquise of Barolo (1785-1864)
This French gentlewoman, a descendant of Minister Colbert, married the perhaps
richest man of Piedmont, Tancredi Falletti di Barolo. After settling at
Turin in 1814, she spent her immense property, time and efforts in works
of charity of great social import and was a pioneer in prison reform especially.
This limpid and exceptional female personage founded and supported several
charities including Turin's first ever children's nursery (together with
her husband, a man of exceptional culture, faith and social sensitivity).
She was awarded a gold medal by the Government for the sense of self-denial
shown during the 1835 cholera epidemic of Turin.
The Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno (1825-188)
He served as an officer in the Sardinian-Piedmontese Kingdom's army and proved to be a man a great culture and an outstanding social benefactor, especially in 1858, when he founded the charitable institution Opera Pia Santa Zita in the popular district of San Donato, for the assistance and promotion of house servants.
Saint Leonardo Murialdo (1828-1900)
This nobleman worked with Don Bosco and dealt especially with youth during the last decades of the 19th Century. In 1866 he accepted the post of director of the Istituto Artigianelli and in 1873founded the Congregation of Saint Joseph. He was a forerunner of the Church's social doctrine.
The Blessed Giuseppe Allamano (1851-1926)
A priest and a man of great piety and austere way of life. He was the spiritual director of the Turin seminary and rector of the Sanctuary of La Consolata (the Holy Mother Comforter). In 1901 he founded the Congregation of La ConsolataMissionaries (now over 2000 strong) engaged in many Third World countries
The Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925)
A member of an upper middle class family of Turin he decided to work for the
poor, for evangelical and non ideological reasons. This crystal clear faith
youngster worked with the Azione Cattolica. He lived his life with
real joy, worked for his next and committed himself tirelessly for the poor,
whom he served as a brother of the Conference of Saint Vincent. He died of
a sudden attack of pneumonia, probably caught when visiting the sick on the
eve of his obtaining a degree in engineering.
So Turin, that is also famed as a town of magic, is a town of saints; Social Saints
or builders of charitable activities. They lived amongst the people, whose needs
they satisfied with typically Subalpine concreteness, finding the inexhaustible
source of the indefatigable devotion to their next in their love for God.