The Social Saints of Turin

Don Bosco and Other Saints Serving Turinese Society

(ANS – Turin – Jan. 11-12, 2024) – In the 19th century, Turin was an expanding city, but many of its inhabitants lived in hardship. In this poor and degraded environment, however, there are those who did their best to help them.

The so-called “social saints” of Turin were apparently ordinary people; in reality they were extraordinary, because they lived by putting God and their neediest neighbors first, forgetting about themselves. The most famous was Don Bosco, but he was not alone: there was also Cafasso, Murialdo, Frassati, Faà di Bruno, and others.

Precisely because of this commonality of attitudes and because of their shared existence more or less at the same time in the same geographical area, many of them knew each other directly and cooperated – or at least, shared a part of the journey together. Many of these “social saints” canonized during the 20th century and the early 2000s are also remembered, with relics and panels, in the Casa Don Bosco Museum at Valdocco in Turin.

A city in ferment, active and industrious, growing at a fast pace: Turin in the 1800s was an ever-expanding agglomeration: in just 3 decades, from the beginning of the century to 1830, it went from 80,000 to 127,000 inhabitants.

Growth continued throughout the 19th century, but unfortunately it also had a downside: many who went there in search of a job and better living conditions couldn’t achieve their dreams. The ranks of the poor swelled day after day: crowded into poor homes, many barely survived and only thanks to public assistance, which, however, was often not enough.

In this context Turin’s “social saints” took on a fundamental role: religious and lay people who with their works ensured essential help to the needy or, as in the case of St. Joseph Allamano, contributed to the birth and spread of missions around the world.

Venerable Tancredi Falletti of Barolo established free schools

The only son of Marquis Ottavio Alessandro Falletti di Barolo and Paolina Teresa d’Oncieux, Tancredi was born in Turin on October 26, 1782. His father took him with him on numerous trips. It was during a stay in France that he met Juliette (Giulia) Colbert, whom he married in 1806 in Paris; they moved to Turin in 1814. Their inability to have children was interpreted by the couple as a divine sign: they decided that their wealth would be made available to the needy.

In his positions in municipal administration (he was mayor for two years), Tancredi gave life to charitable initiatives such as the establishing of free schools for the children of the poor, a kindergarten, and an art school for the destitute. During the cholera epidemic in 1835, he organized temporary hospitals to accommodate the sick. In 2018 he was declared “venerable” by Pope Francis.

Venerable Giulia Falletti di Barolo opened an institute for unwed mothers

Tancredi’s wife Juliette (Giulia) was born on June 27, 1785 in the castle of Maulevrier in Vendée (France); she was a daughter of Count Eduard Colbert and Countess AnneMarie-Louise Quengo de Crenolle. Maid of honor of Josephine Beauharnais, first wife of Napoleon, after her marriage and relocation to Turin, she and her husband dedicated themselves to charity.

She carried out projects for the rehabilitation and reintegration of female prisoners into society, an institute for unwed mothers, a vocational school for the daughters of poor families, and a house for girls at risk in addition to the construction of the church of Santa Giulia in Turin.

She died on  January 19, 1864, leaving the instructions to found the Opera Pia Barolo, a charity to which she donated her family’s assets.

In 2015 Pope Francis declared her “venerable.”

Don Bosco founded the Salesian Congregation

The future founder of the Salesians (who are now in over 130 countries around the world) was born in a small farmhouse in the Becchi hamlet, in the municipality of Castelnuovo d’Asti (today Castelnuovo Don Bosco) on August 16, 1815 to Francis and Margherita Occhiena Bosco, farmers.

Having lost his father before he was 2, he began working at age 11 while his vocation grew stronger and stronger. He worked several jobs in order to pay for his studies and in 1835 he entered the seminary.

Six years later he was ordained and moved to the Convitto Ecclesiastico in Turin. Here he began his work of approaching the poorest young people he met on the street and in the city’s building sites.

It is precisely for them that he established the first oratory in Valdocco (Turin) in 1846, a place dedicated to marginalized young people where they were guaranteed concrete help, education, and job training.

Soon the number of oratories increased, helping an increasing number of children in need. In 1859 he founded the Salesian Congregation, with which he carried out his mission on behalf of young people.

He died on January 31, 1888, and was canonized on April 1, 1934 by Pope Pius XI.

St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo opened an infirmary for abandoned patients

Born in Bra (Cuneo) on May 3, 1786, he was the first of 12 children (6 of whom died at an early age) of Giuseppe Antonio Cottolengo and Benedetta Chiarotti. Ordained a priest in 1811, he graduated in theology  in Turin with honors on May 14, 1816.

Increasingly interested in spiritual research, on September 2, 1827 Fr. Cottolengo was called to the bedside of a mother of 3 children, and the 4th on the way, rejected by several hospitals in Turin.

The death of the woman shocked him, and he decided to establish a small infirmary to avoid a recurrence of similar cases. Thus, in 1828, Deposito de’ Poveri Infermi del Corpus Domini was founded, dedicated to the sick who were not accepted into hospitals.

Four years later Fr. Cottolengo founded in Turin the Little House of Divine Providence (known as the Cottolengo), where poor and disabled people, epileptics, deaf, disabled, and orphans could find health care, assistance, and education.

He died on April 30, 1842. In 1934 Pope Pius XI proclaimed him a saint. He was listed among the saints of charity by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2005 encyclical Deus caritas est.

St. Leonard helped street kids

Leonard Murialdo was born in Turin on October 26, 1828, to a wealthy family. Losing his father at the age of 5, he entered the Piarist Fathers boarding school in Savona, but during his adolescence he experienced an existential and spiritual crisis that brought him back to his family in Turin. Here he made the decision to become a priest and was ordained in 1851.

Appreciated by St. John Bosco, who entrusted him with the St. Aloysius Oratory (near the Porta Nuova railway station), he dedicated himself entirely to young people in need: through the oratory, catechesis, school, vocational training, and recreational activities, he approached and helped street children, the poorest.

It was thanks to him that a family home and an agricultural colony were created in Rivoli (Turin). In 1873 he founded the Congregation of St. Joseph, which continued its work of assistance for young people after his death on March 30, 1900.

Pope St. Paul VI canonized him on May 3, 1970.

St. Joseph Cafasso assisted the condemned at the gallows 

Joseph Cafasso was born in Castelnuovo d’Asti, the same town where Don Bosco was born, on January 15, 1811.

His was a peasant family. The deep faith of his parents was passed on to their son, who was ordained at 22 years of age. Four months later he entered the Convitto Ecclesiastico of St. Francis in Turin.

Teacher of moral theology first, spiritual director later, and finally rector, he passed on his faith to future priests, but not only that. He dedicated himself to prisoners, visiting dilapidated penitentiary institutions. He was nicknamed the “priest of the gallows” because he often accompanied the condemned to the gallows, comforting them until the end.

He died on June 23, 1860. Don Bosco preached his eulogy a month later. On June 22, 1947, Pope Pius XII declared him a saint.

Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno established “economic stoves”

Before donning the cassock, Francesco Faà di Bruno lived a very intense life. Born in Alessandria on March 29, 1825, into an important noble family, in 1840 he entered the Military Academy of Turin, starting a brilliant career as an officer until he was appointed captain of the general staff.

After leaving the army, his passion for science led him to graduate in mathematics at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris, and in 1857 he became a professor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Turin.

A man of faith, he dedicated himself to the poorest and, in particular, to women, creating a house for young mothers and founding the Congregation of the Minim Sisters of Our Lady of Suffrage.

Its initiatives include the economic stove (to distribute hot meals to workers at a modest price), the mutual mobile library (book loans extended to all of Italy), and public washrooms.

He decided to embrace clerical life in 1876. He died on March 27, 1888, and Pope John Paul II named him Blessed in 1988.

St. Joseph Marello gave a retirement home to the elderly in need

Born in Turin on December 26, 1844, Joseph Marello lost his mother at the age of 3 and moved with his father and brother to San Martino Alfieri (Asti). At the age of 12 he entered the seminary in Asti: after a brief pause for rethinking during which he returned to Turin to undertake technical-commercial studies, he returned to the seminary and was ordained in 1868, assuming the position of secretary of the bishop of Asti, Carlo Savio.

In 1878 he founded the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Joseph. Appointed bishop of Acqui (Alessandria) in 1889, he spent his time helping young people welcomed into the parish. It had to be a welcoming formation school so that they could become “good Christians and upright citizens.”

No less important was his intervention on behalf of the elderly in need, for whom he established a nursing home.

He died on May 30, 1895, at the age of 50 and was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2001.

Blessed Joseph Allamano started a missionary center

Joseph Allamano was born in Castelnuovo d’Asti on January 21, 1851: he was a nephew and pupil of St. Joseph Cafasso.

He studied at Don Bosco’s Oratory in Valdocco and was ordained in 1873. He graduated in theology from the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Turin 4 years later and in 1880 he became rector of the Consolata Shrine in Turin.

Eager to bring the Word of God and concrete help to the poorest populations in the world, in 1901 he founded the Consolata mission institute, which the following year sent 4 missionaries to Kenya. In 1910 he founded the Missionary Sisters of the Consolata.

Faithful to its motto “good makes little noise: much noise does little good. Good must be done well and without noise,” he worked to raise awareness among the Church and society about the activities of missionaries, asking that a day dedicated to them be officially established; that plea was granted in 1926 by Pope Pius XI.

He died on February 16, 1926 and was beatified on October 77, 1990, by Pope St. John Paul II.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: as a rich man he gave everything to the poor

Son of Alfredo Frassati, editor of the La Stampa newspaper and senator, and artist Adelaide Ametis, Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin on April 6, 1901.

After graduating from the classical high school in 1918, he enrolled at the Polytechnic of Turin, choosing mechanical engineering with a specialization in mining. When asked the reason for this choice, Pier Giorgio replied that he wanted to study to help improve the working conditions of miners.

His deep faith led him to enroll in the Italian Catholic University Federation and to collaborate regularly with the St. Vincent de Paul Society. His financial resources were put completely at the service of the needy, and he often remained penniless because he gave everything to the poor.

In 1922 his devotion led him to enter as a lay tertiary in the Dominican order, further increasing his commitment to assisting the poor.

Suffering from polio, he died on July 4, 1925. He was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on May 20, 1990.

Source: Airone magazine