Priest of the Diocese of Turin, born in Castelnuovo Don Bosco (AT) in 1851.
For 46 years he was Rector of the Sanctuary of the Madonna Consolata in Turin, making it a very flourishing center of Marian spirituality.
Attentive to the needs of Turin society, in profound cultural and social change, he supported initiatives in favor of the emerging working class, working women, and the nascent Catholic press.
From a young age he wanted to announce Christ to those who did not yet know him. His missionary dream was realized by his sons and daughters, the Consolata Missionaries (Fathers and Brothers) and the Consolata Missionary Sisters. He founded the Consolata’s Institutes, respectively in 1901 and 1910.
Born in Castelnuovo
His mother, Marianna Cafasso, was the sister of Saint Joseph Cafasso, a holy priest from Turin; Joseph Allamano met him only once, in his childhood. His father, Joseph, had a brother who was a parish priest in Passerano.
In Valdocco and in the seminary
As a teenager, he completed his high school studies at the oratory of Saint John Bosco, his fellow countryman. Then he decided to enter the diocesan seminary. During that period he felt the desire to be a missionary, following the example of Fr. Guglielmo Massaia, a Capuchin evangelizer in Ethiopia.
At Consolata Shrine
After some years as spiritual director of the diocesan seminary, the young priest was sent to the Consolata Shrine, where he remained until his death. He was also responsible for the ecclesiastical boarding school.
He founded missionary institutes
After a serious illness, in 1901 he founded the Institute of the Consolata Missionaries and in 1910 the Consolata Missionary Sisters. He gave everything of himself for these foundations: his time, his wisdom, his patrimony. Everything for the proclamation of the Gospel to non-Christians!
Cafasso's Beatification
For years he devoted himself to promoting the recognition of the sanctity of his uncle, Joseph Cafasso, a distinguished priest from Turin, whose intuitions he followed. Shortly before his death, he was able to see the completion of so much work: Joseph Cafasso was beatified in Rome.
He died in Turin
He died in the Sanctuary of Consolata, surrounded by his sons and daughters, by the priests who accompanied him for many years in his ministry. The whole city gathered around his coffin. Now his body rests in the Sanctuary dedicated to him, in Ferrucci Avenue, in Turin.
You then take courage in the Lord, He will support you physically and spiritually, as I pray to Him.
We must always go to Jesus very willingly, and regret having to leave him; we must remain in his Divine presence like the oil of the lamp and the wax of the candles.
defects yes, there are, but we must overcome them. Ours first of all, and then bear well those of others... Always pity... help... even when you are tired; the Lord then helps Him... Sometimes a little effort is enough...
Called by the Holy Spirit to share in the Charism, God’s gift to Father Founder, we offer our life to Christ forever, in the mission ad gentes,
that is, to non-Christians,
for the proclamation of salvation and consolation.
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