Don Luigi Orione

Saint Luigi Orione, F.D.P.
Advocate of the Poor and of Orphans
Priest and founder
Born	(1872-06-23)June 23, 1872 Pontecurone, Allesandria, Kingdom of Italy
Died	March 12, 1940 (aged 67) Sanremo, Liguria, Kingdom of Italy
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church (Sons of Divine Providence and Little Missionary Sisters of Charity)
Beatified	October 26, 1980, Vatican City, by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	May 16, 2004, Vatican City, by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine	Shrine of the Madonna della Guardia, Tortona, Alessandria, Italy
Feast	March 12

Luigi Giovanni Orione, F.D.P., was an Italian priest who was active in answering the social needs of his nation as it faced the social upheavals of the late 19th century. To this end, he founded a religious institute of men. He has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

Orione was born into a poor family at Pontecurone, in the Province of Alessandria, in the Piedmont region of Italy, on the vigil of the feast day of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. He was named after Saint Aloysius Gonzaga and Saint John the Baptist. He was baptized the next day by Michele Cattaneo, the parish priest of the town. His father, Vittorio, was a street paver of few words and his mother, Carolina, was an energetic, pious, thrifty homemaker.

At thirteen years of age he entered the Franciscan Friary of Voghera (Pavia), but he left after one year owing to poor health. From 1886 to 1889 Orione was a student at the Valdocco Oratory in Turin operated by the Salesians of Don Bosco. There he gained the attention of St. John Bosco, the founder, who numbered him among his favorite pupils. From the age of 13, Luigi began to suffer health problems. However, three years later, in 1888, he was present at Bosco's death in Turin in 1888. At that moment his ailments were miraculously cured.

Orione was determined to become a priest and entered the seminary of the Archdiocese of Turin. He became a member of both the San Marziano Society for Mutual Help and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1892, inspired by the education he had received from the followers of St. John Bosco, the 20-year-old seminarian opened his own oratory to educate the poor boys of the city, and the following year he started a boarding school for the poor. He was ordained a priest on April 13, 1895.