Luigi Orione

On July 3, 1892, while still a seminarian, Luigi Orione opened a first oratory in Tortona to gather street children, followed in 1893 by a college for poor boys. From these beginnings was born the Little Work of Divine Providence, recognized as a congregation of diocesan right on March 21, 1903, by Msgr. Igino Bandi, Bishop of Tortona. The male branch took the name Sons of Divine Providence. On June 29, 1915, Orione founded a female branch, the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity, followed later by contemplative branches, including blind adoring sisters and the Hermits of Divine Providence. His work expanded rapidly: he provided relief to the victims of the earthquakes in Messina and Reggio Calabria (1908) and then in Marsica (1915), and multiplied schools, agricultural colonies, orphanages, and reception homes called "Little Cottolengos." As early as 1913, his missionaries established themselves in Brazil, then in Argentina, Uruguay, Palestine, Poland, and elsewhere. Faithful to the Pope and deeply Marian, he built the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Guard in Tortona.

The spirituality of Luigi Orione is summarized in his conviction that "only charity will save the world." Entirely devoted to the cause of Christ and His Kingdom, he made the service of the poor, the sick, and the abandoned the very place of his encounter with God. In his canonization homily, Pope John Paul II emphasized that he allowed himself to be "guided solely and always by the logic of love," a heart "without borders because it was expanded by the charity of Christ." Nicknamed "the porter of God," Orione distinguished himself by his tireless apostolic zeal, his filial obedience to the Holy See, and an ardent Marian devotion. He taught that "perfect joy can only reside in the perfect gift of oneself to God and to men." His reputation for holiness, already vivid during his lifetime, rests on the heroism of his virtues of faith, hope, and especially charity, exercised amidst the physical and moral trials, misunderstandings, and obstacles of all kinds that he endured without respite.

Luigi Orione was proclaimed blessed by Pope John Paul II on October 26, 1980, during a celebration in Rome. The miracle accepted for his canonization was the healing of Pietro (Pierino) Penacca, a man from the province of Alessandria suffering from a pulmonary carcinoma deemed inoperable, whose rapid, complete, and lasting recovery, which began in January 1991, was declared scientifically inexplicable. After the diocesan process conducted in 1999, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints promulgated the decree recognizing the miracle on July 7, 2003. John Paul II solemnly canonized him on May 16, 2004, in Saint Peter's Square, along with five other blesseds: Annibale Maria Di Francia, Josep Manyanet y Vives, Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini, Paola Elisabetta Cerioli, and Gianna Beretta Molla. His liturgical memorial is set for March 12, the anniversary of his death, while his religious family and the diocese of Milan also celebrate the date of May 16.

The body of Luigi Orione, found in a good state of preservation, rests in a reliquary at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Guard in Tortona, which he himself had built and which remains a place of pilgrimage. His spiritual heritage is perpetuated through the "Orionine family," composed of the Sons of Divine Providence and the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity, present on several continents. Faithful to his charism, they continue to welcome the poor, people with disabilities, and the most fragile, notably in the network of "Little Cottolengos" that he had envisioned. A major figure of 20th-century Italian charity, Orione is regularly cited by popes as a model of concrete evangelical love: Pope Francis, addressing his congregation in 2016, warned against the risk of reducing his charity to simple philanthropy. His influence extends beyond Italy to reach all the assistance works he spread throughout Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East.