Joseph Cafasso
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Saint Giuseppe Cafasso |
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Print circa 1895.
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| Priest | |
| Born |
15 January 1811 Castelnuovo d'Asti, Asti, Kingdom of Sardinia |
| Died | 23 June 1860 (aged 49) Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 3 May 1925, Saint Peter's Basilica, Kingdom of Italy by Pope Pius XI |
| Canonized | 22 June 1947, Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City by Pope Pius XII |
| Major shrine | Santuario della Consolata, Turin, Italy |
| Feast | 23 June |
| Attributes | Priest's attire |
| Patronage |
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Saint Giuseppe Cafasso (15 January 1811 – 23 June 1860) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who was a significant social reformer in Turin. He was one of the so-called "Social Saints" who emerged during that particular era. He is known as the "Priest of the Gallows" due to his extensive work with those prisoners who were condemned to death. But he was also known for his excessive mortifications despite his frail constitution: he neglected certain foods and conditions to remain as frugal and basic as possible unless a doctor ordered otherwise.
The cause for his canonization commenced after his death that led to his beatification in mid-1925 and his canonization two decades later on 22 June 1947; he is a patron for Italian prisoners and prisoners amongst other things.
Giuseppe Cafasso was born to peasants in Castelnuovo d'Asti as the third of four children. His sister Marianna (the fourth and last child) was later to become the mother of the Blessed Giuseppe Allamano. Cafasso had been born with a deformed spine which contributed to his short stature and frail constitution.
It was often said that no one who knew Cafasso as a child ever could recall him having sinned seeing him as a model individual. In his childhood Cafasso felt called to become a priest and so commenced his ecclesial studies in Turin and Chieri in order to achieve his dream. During this period he came to know another native of the town - Giovanni Bosco - whom he would later encourage and support in the work of caring for the street urchins in Turin giving them training in various trades. The two first met when Cafasso was twelve but both soon became lifelong friends. Cafasso received his ordination to the priesthood in the archdiocesan cathedral on 21 September 1833.
He underwent some further theological studies at the Turin college four months after his ordination and it was at that time that in 1834 that he came to know Luigi Guala (1775-1848) - the co-founder of the Institute of Saint Francis of Assisi. This college was dedicated to the higher education of the diocesan priests who were still recovering from the destruction of the Church's institutions under the Napoleonic invasion a generation earlier. He would be connected to this institution for the rest of his life advancing from student to lecturer to chaplain and then at last being named Guala's successor as the college's rector in 1848.
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