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

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”.

“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.