#stjosephbenedictcottolengo

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Saint of the Day – 29 April – St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo (1786-1842)

Saint of the Day – 29 April – St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo (1786-1842) Priest, Founder, Confessor, Apostle of Charity. It is the glory of the City of Turin that for almost one hundred years, it possessed a line of saintly Tertiary Priests ,who have been raised to the honours of the Altar. One of these is Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo, the man who more than any other, in the nineteenth…

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Madonna del Sangue / The Bleeding Madonna in Re, Piedmont, Italy (1494), St Peter Martyr,and more wonderful Saints - 29 April

Madonna del Sangue / The Bleeding Madonna in Re, Piedmont, Italy (1494) – 29 April:HERE:https://anastpaul.com/2022/04/29/madonna-del-sangue-the-bleeding-madonna-in-re-piedmont-italy-1494-and-memorials-of-the-saints-29-april/ St Peter Martyr/ of Verona OP (1205–1252) Martyr, Priest and Friar of the Order of Preachers, , a celebrated Preacher, Miracle-worker, Marian devotee. He served as…

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Onze Liewe-Vrouw van Afrika / Heilige Maria van Afrika / Notre Dame d’Afrique/ Our Lady of Africa , Algiers (1876) and Memorials of the Saints - 30 April

Onze Liewe-Vrouw van Afrika / Heilige Maria van Afrika / Notre Dame d’Afrique/ Our Lady of Africa , Algiers (1876) and Memorials of the Saints – 30 April

Friday of the Fourth Weekof Easter +2021 Onze Liewe-Vrouw van Afrika / Heilige Maria van Afrika / Notre Dame d’Afrique / Our Lady of Africa , Algiers (1876) (Feast) – 30 April: North Africa, the land of Saints Monica, Augustine, among others, as part of Roman Empire began to become Christian in the 3rd century under Emperor Constantine. It remained Christian until the Arab invasions in later…

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Feast of our Lady of Africa and Memorials of the Saints - 30 April

Feast of our Lady of Africa and Memorials of the Saints – 30 April

Our Lady, Mother of Africa: (Feast) North Africa, the land of Saints Monica, Augustine, among others, as part of Roman Empire began to become Christian in the 3rd century under Emperor Constantine. It remained Christian until the Arab invasions in later centuries.   The French re-established themselves early in the 19th century. The first bishop, Bishop Dupuch found it impossible to build a church…

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Memorials of the Saints - 30 April

Memorials of the Saints – 30 April

St Marie Guyart of the Incarnation OSU (1599-1672)( Optional Memorial) Biography:   https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/saint-of-the-day-30-april-st-marie-guyart-of-the-incarnation-o-s-u/

St Pope Pius V (1504-1572) (Optional Memorial) Apologies – St Pius’s video and Memorial was erroneously posted yesterday.

— St Adjutor of…

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Heilige Maria van Afrika / Notre Dame d’Afrique / Our Lady of Africa , Algiers (1876) and Memorials of the Saints - 30 April

Heilige Maria van Afrika / Notre Dame d’Afrique / Our Lady of Africa , Algiers (1876) and Memorials of the Saints – 30 April

Onze Liewe-Vrouw van Afrika / Heilige Maria van Afrika / Notre Dame d’Afrique / Our Lady of Africa , Algiers (1876) (Feast) – 30 April:HERE:https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/30/onze-liewe-vrouw-van-afrika-heilige-maria-van-afrika-notre-dame-dafrique-our-lady-of-africa-algiers-1876-and-memorials-of-the-saints-30-april/ St Catherine of Siena OP (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church, Dominican Tertiary,…

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Saint of the Day – 30 April – St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo (1786-1842) Priest, Founder, Confessor, Apostle of Charity.   Born as Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo on 3 May 1786 at Bra, Cuneo, Piedmont region, Italy and died on 30 April 1842 of typhus at Chieri, Turin, Italy.  He was buried in the Mary altar in the main chapel in Valdocco, Italy.   St Joseph was Canonised on 19 March 1934 by Pope Pius XI.   Known as “the labourer of Divine Providence”.

“St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo, who lived 40 years before Murialdo the Founder of the work which he himself called the “Little House of Divine Providence” and which today is also called “Cottolengo” embodied this same spirit of charity.   Next Sunday, during my pastoral visit to Turin, I shall have the opportunity to venerate the remains of this Saint and to meet the residents of the “Little House”.

Joseph Benedict Cottolengo was born in Bra, a small town in the Province of Cuneo, on 3 May 1786.   The eldest of 12, six of whom died in infancy, he showed great sensitivity to the poor from childhood.   He embraced the way of the priesthood, setting an example to two of his brothers.   The years of his youth coincided with the Napoleonic period and the consequent hardships in both the religious and social contexts.   Cottolengo became a good priest much sought after by penitents and, in the Turin of that time, a preacher of spiritual exercises and conferences for university students who always met with noteworthy success.   At the age of 32, he was appointed canon of the Santissima Trinità, a congregation of priests whose task was to officiate in the Corpus Domini Church and to ensure the decorum of the city’s religious ceremonies but he felt uneasy in this situation.   God was preparing him for a special mission and, precisely with an unexpected and decisive encounter, made him realise what was to be his future destiny in the exercise of the ministry.

The Lord always sets signs on our path to guide us according to his will to our own true good.   This also happened to Cottolengo, dramatically, on Sunday morning, 2 September 1827.   The diligence from Milan arrived in Turin, more crowded than ever.   Crammed into it was a whole French family.   The mother, with five children, was at an advanced stage of pregnancy and had a high temperature.   After traipsing to various hospitals, this family found lodgings in a public dormitory but the woman’s situation was serious and some people went in search of a priest.   By a mysterious design they came across Cottolengo and it was precisely he who, heavy hearted, accompanied this young mother to her death, amid the distress of the entire family.   Having carried out this painful task, with deep anguish he went to the Blessed Sacrament and knelt in prayer:  “My God, why?   Why did you want me to be a witness?   What do you want of me?  Something must be done!”.   He got to his feet and had all the bells rung and the candles lit and, gathering in the church those who were curious, told them:  “The grace has been granted!   The grace has been granted!”.   From that time Cottolengo was transformed: all his skills, especially his financial and organisational ability, were used to give life to projects in support of the neediest.

In his undertaking he was able to involve dozens and dozens of collaborators and volunteers.   Moving towards the outskirts of Turin to expand his work, he created a sort of village, in which he assigned a meaningful name to every building he managed to build:  “House of Faith”, “House of Hope”, “House of Charity”.   He adopted a “familystyle”, establishing true and proper communities of people with volunteers, men and women religious and lay people, who joined forces in order to face and overcome the difficulties that arose.   Everyone in that Little House of Divine Providence had a precise task:  work, prayer, service, teaching or administration.   The healthy and the sick shared the same daily burden.   With time religious life could be specifically planned in accordance with particular needs and requirements.

Cottolengo even thought of setting up his own seminary to provide specific formation for the priests of his Work.   He was always ready to follow and serve Divine Providence and never questioned it.   He would say:  “I am a good for nothing and I don’t even know what to make of myself.   But Divine Providence certainly knows what it wants.   It is only up to me to support it. Let us go ahead in Domino”.   To his poor and the neediest, he would always call himself “the labourer of Divine Providence”.

He also chose to found beside the small citadels five monasteries of contemplative sisters and one of hermits and considered them among his most important achievements.   They were a sort of “heart” which was to beat for the entire Work.   He died on 30 April 1842, with these words on his lips:  “Misericordia, Domine, Misericordia, Domine.   Good and Holy Providence… Blessed Virgin, it is now up to you”.   The whole of his life, as a newspaper of the time said, was “an intense day of love”.”….Pope Benedict XVI General Audience, Saint Peter’s Square, Wednesday, 28 April 2010.

Today Cottolengo Fathers, Sisters and Brothers still work together in activities focused on communicating God’s love for the poorest. They are spread out all over the world: Ecuador, India, Italy, Kenya, Switzerland, Tanzania and the United States.   Don Cottolengo contracted typhoid while assisting his patients and died in Chieri, Piedmont on 30 April 1842.   Cottolengo was beatified by Pope Benedict XV in 1917 and was Canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1934. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo was enlisted among the saints of charity by Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical Deus caritas est.   The parish of Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo is located in Grosseto, Italy.   There is a Via San Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo in Pisa.

Below -  The Sisters of St Joseph Cottolengo pray before the blessed sacrament inside the Chiesa Piccola

(via Saint of the Day - 30 April - St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo (1786-1842) - An Intense Day of Love)

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One Minute Reflection – 30 April – Monday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo (1786-1842) – known as “The Labourer of Divine Providence”.

He who gives heed to the word will prosper and happy is he who trusts in the LORD...Proverbs 16:20

REFLECTION – “I am a good for nothing and I don’t even know what to make of myself. But Divine Providence certainly knows what it wants.   It is only up to me to support it. Let us go ahead in Domino“….St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo

PRAYER – Lord, by Your grace, we are made one in mind and heart.   Give us a love for what You command and a longing for what You promise, so that, amid this world’s changes, our hearts may be set on the world of lasting joy.   We make our prayer, through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God with You, forever and ever, amen.

(via One Minute Reflection - - 30 April - Monday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo (1786-1842) - known as "The Labourer of Divine Providence".)

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The Labourer of Divine Providence

Blessed Memorial of St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo - The Labour of Divine Providence