Giuseppe Allamano (21 January 1851 – 16 February 1926) was an Italian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. He established the

Consolata Missionaries The Institute of Consolata Missionaries ( la, Institutum Missionum a Consolata), commonly called the Consolata Missionaries is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. Its members add the nominal I.M.C. after their n ...

(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 The Santuario della Madonna Consolata or, in its full name, the Church of the Virgin of the Consolation is a Marian sanctuary and minor basilica in central Turin, Piedmont, Italy. Colloquially, the sanctuary is known as ''La Consolata''. It is loc ...

and transformed the shrine into a source of spiritual renewal for the faithful. He was beatified (the last stage before canonization) on 7 October 1990.

Life

Giuseppe Ottavio Allamano was born in

Asti Asti ( , , ; pms, Ast ) is a ''comune'' of 74,348 inhabitants (1-1-2021) located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deemed t ...

in 1851 as the fourth of five children to Joseph and Marianna Cafasso Allamano. His mother was the younger sister of Joseph Cafasso. His father died of

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

when Giuseppe was three."Giuseppe Allamano", Institut Für Grenzgebiete Der Wissenschaft
/ref> From 1861 to 1866 Allamano attended the Oratory of

John Bosco John Melchior Bosco ( it, Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; pms, Gioann Melchior Bòsch; 16 August 181531 January 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco , was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic priest, educator, writer and saint of the 19t ...

in Valdocco. He commenced his studies to become a

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

in November 1866, and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood on 20 September 1873. He was appointed spiritual director at the major seminary of the diocese of Turin. In 1876 he obtained a doctorate in theology."Joseph Allamano", Museo Torino
/ref> He was appointed as the rector of the

on 2 October 1880 and he maintained that position until his death. Between 1883 and 1885 he restructured the Sanctuary and repaired the roof. In 1899 he commissioned the architect Carlo Ceppi to expand the interior space for the faithful with the construction of four circular chapels. Allamano ensured that the shrine became a source of spiritual renewal.Agasso, Domenico. "Blessed Joseph Allamano", Santi e Beati, 2001
/ref> Allamano also responded to requests for spiritual and material comfort of Turin supporting various social initiatives and promoting the Catholic newspapers. In 1899 he began publishing the monthly ''La Consolata''.

Consolata Missionaries

On recovering from a severe illness in 1891, he vowed to found a missionary society for priests and laymen. Thus the Consolata Missionaries was born on 29 January 1901. The first missionaries reached

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in 1902, joined in 1903 by the Sister of Cottolengo. He also founded the Consolata Missionary Sisters for women on 29 January 1910. Due to the increasing size of the Christian population, it became quite clear that there were not enough priests and brethren to cater to the pastoral needs of the people. Allamano expressed this deep concern to

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

during a visit to

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in 1912. He urged the pope to do something and perhaps establish an annual mission day to awaken missionary vocations. War breaks out in the Balkans, and the proposals is postponed. During World War I he worked to assist refugees, and seminarians drafted. He also worked on the cause of his uncle, who was beatified in 1925. Allamano died in Turin in February 1926.

Legacy

His idea for an annual day for missionaries came in 1927 when

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

instituted World Mission Day.

Beatification

The diocesan process commenced in 1944 in Turin and concluded its work in 1951. His cause was formally opened in Rome on 19 January 1952, granting him the title of

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...

. It received the formal decree of ratification several decades later on 5 October 1984. In 1987 the

Positio In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint. Des ...

was submitted to the Roman

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pa ...

for further evaluation.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

proclaimed on 13 May 1989 that Allamano be made

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

after he recognized that the late priest had lived a life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...

. The

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

attributed to him for beatification was ratified on 17 October 1986 following the conclusion of a diocesan tribunal. John Paul II approved the miracle on 10 July 1990 and beatified him on 7 October 1990.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Saints SQPN

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allamano, Giuseppe 1851 births 1926 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 20th-century venerated Christians Italian beatified people Founders of Catholic religious communities Beatifications by Pope John Paul II People from Castelnuovo Don Bosco Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II