Saint Anthony Mary Gianelli

Anthony Mary Gianelli was born on April 12, 1789, at Cereta, near Genoa, to a poor farming family. A generous benefactor paid for his studies, and he was ordained a priest in 1812. He became a gifted preacher, teacher and confessor, and as archpriest of Chiavari he founded in 1829 the Daughters of Mary Most Holy of the Garden, named after a local Marian shrine, to teach girls and care for the sick and orphans.

He also gathered priests to preach parish missions in the spirit of Saint Alphonsus Liguori. In 1838 he was named bishop of Bobbio, where he visited every parish, reformed the seminary and was known for his charity. He died at Piacenza on June 7, 1846, at fifty-seven. Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1951.

His sisters, known in Spanish as the Hermanas del Huerto, crossed to South America in the 1850s and run schools and hospitals in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and elsewhere. Their schools celebrate his feast with Mass and student festivals.

In Chiavari and Bobbio, Italy, the faithful keep his memory at the shrine of Our Lady of the Garden.