Leonard
Murialdo was born in 1828 into a wealthy, but religious, family in
Turin, Italy. The eighth child in a large family, he was only four years
old when he lost his father.
During his adolescent years,
Leonard went through a profound spiritual crisis and an interior
conversion during which period he discovered his vocation to the
priesthood. He received an excellent education and seminary formation,
completed his studies in philosophy and theology at the University of
Turin, and was ordained a priest in 1851.
As a seminarian he had
begun assisting his cousin, Don Roberto Murialdo, at the Guardian Angels
Oratory in Turin and it was through him that he came to work closely
with two other saints: St. Joseph Cafasso and St. John Bosco. For a
time, at the latter’s request, the young priest took charge of the
Oratory of St. Louis, one of Don Bosco’s educational centers for boys at
the edge of the city.
He went on to take charge of a college for
young working men founded by another exemplary priest, Don Giovanni
Cocchi, and although taking on the daunting assignment hesitantly, and
only “provisionally”, he remained at this post for the next thirty-seven
years. Partly to fund the college, he founded the Pious Association of
St. Joseph. From Turin this association spread throughout Italy and then
to America. Leonard also founded agricultural centers for young
delinquents, another field in which he was an innovator.
He was a
great proponent of true social justice, and was ecclesiastical
assistant to the Catholic Workers’ Union, a forerunner of Catholic
Action. He was equally dedicated to the spread of piety, particularly
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He died on March 30, 1900 and his remains rest in the Church of St. Barbara in Turin.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
St. Leonard Murialdo
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