Description

Oil Dedicated to St Luigi Orione (Patron for the Abandoned)

St Luigi Orione (Patron for the Abandoned) from A Blessed Call To Love, Ireland.

Luigi Giovanni Orione 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.

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 a student at the Valdocco Oratory in Turin operated by the Salesians of Don Bosco. There he gained the attention of 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 miraculously cured.

Orione 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 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 ordained a priest on April 13, 1895.

In 1908 Orione went to Messina, Sicily, and Reggio Calabria, Calabria, both of which had devastated by earthquakes. He dedicated three years to help those in need, most especially the caring of orphans. In 1915 he went to Marsica when that region had a similarly devastating earthquake. That same year he founded the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity.

At the end of World War I, Orione began to expand his work. He founded schools, farming colonies, charity organizations and nursing homes—always with a special emphasis on helping orphans and the poor. Over the next two decades, he started foundations throughout Italy and the Americas.