Saint Luigi Orione

Luigi Orione was born on June 23, 1872, in Pontecurone, in northern Italy, the son of a road paver. As a teenager he studied at Saint John Bosco's Oratory in Turin, and the saint's example marked him for life. While still a seminarian in Tortona he opened a small oratory and a school for poor boys. Ordained in 1895, he founded the Little Work of Divine Providence, which grew into the Sons of Divine Providence, the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity and other branches.

Don Orione rushed to help the victims of the earthquakes of Messina in 1908 and Marsica in 1915, and he founded homes called Piccolo Cottolengo for the disabled, the elderly and the abandoned. He traveled twice to South America, opening works in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, including the great Cottolengo of Claypole near Buenos Aires. He died in Sanremo on March 12, 1940, and Saint John Paul II canonized him on May 16, 2004.

In Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, Orionine parishes, schools and homes for people with disabilities celebrate "Don Orione" with Masses, festivals and visits to residents. His body rests in the Shrine of Our Lady of the Guard in Tortona.