Blessed Giuseppe Allamano will be a saint on Oct. 20
Discovering the life and works of Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, founder of the Consolata Institutes
From the editorial staff of the magazine Missioni Consolata
During the Ordinary Public Consistory on Monday, July 1, 2024, Pope Francis announced that the canonization of Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, founder of the Consolata Missionary Institutes, will be held on Sunday, Oct. 2024, World Missionary Day, in Rome.
The miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Giuseppe Allamano occurred in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, in the state of Roraima, where Sorino, a man from the Yanomami ethnic group, was attacked by a jaguar that severely injured his head, opening his skull box; it was Feb. 7, 1996, the first day of the Blessed Giuseppe Allamano novena.
Transported to Boa Vista Hospital, cared for by the Missionaries of the Consolata, who never ceased to ask for his recovery through the intercession of the Founding Father, Sorino miraculously recovered his health in a few months, and still lives in his indigenous community.
The diocesan inquiry for the study of the alleged miracle took place in March 2021 in Boa Vista, while the process of the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints concluded on May 23, 2024, with the approval of the decree recognizing the miracle.
This is a very significant moment for the Consolata missionary family, composed of Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Laymen and Laywomen.
Blessed Joseph Allamano, Founder of the missionaries and missionaries of the Consolata
Grandson of St. Joseph Cafasso on his mother’s side, he was born in Castelnuovo d’Asti on January 21, 1851. He attended high school in Valdocco and boasted none other than Don Bosco as his educator. At 22 he was ordained a priest in Turin and immediately charged with the formation of young seminarians. At 29 he was rector of the city’s most important Marian shrine, dedicated to “Our Lady Consolata,” and formator of young clergy at the Ecclesiastical Boarding School.
On Jan. 29, 1901, he founded the Institute of the Missionaries of the Consolata in Turin. The shrine’s bulletin, La Consolata, makes the announcement with a sybilline expression, “The cult of the Consolata will not only be contemplative, but active.” That is, with the missions, the Marian shrine will acquire a universal dimension. On May 8, 1902, the first four missionaries, two priests and two coadjutor brothers, left for Kenya, followed by four more priests and a layman at the end of the same year. In 1910 Joseph Allamano founded the Missionaries of the Consolata.
He died in Turin on February 16, 1926. His body is now preserved and venerated in the Mother House of the Missionaries of the Consolata in Turin.
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 7, 1990, and his feast day was set for Feb. 16, the day of his return to the Father’s House.