Joseph Marello

On March 14, 1878, at the Opera Pia Michelerio in Asti, where young men served an orphanage, Joseph Marello founded a community he initially named the Company of Saint Joseph, which would become the Congregation of the Oblates of Saint Joseph (also known as the Giuseppini of Asti). He intended it for the moral and Christian education of youth, the service of the poor and abandoned, and the assistance of bishops. He proposed Saint Joseph to his religious as a model, in his intimate relationship with the Incarnate Word and in the care of the "interests of Jesus." In 1888, Pope Leo XIII, who had known him at the Vatican Council, appointed him Bishop of Acqui, in Piedmont. He was consecrated bishop in Rome, in the church of Santa Maria Immacolata on Via Veneto, by Cardinal Raffaele Monaco La Valletta, and made his entry into the diocese of Acqui in June 1889. As bishop, he published several pastoral letters, notably on peace and catechesis, and undertook a vast pastoral visit of all the parishes of his diocese, concerned with religious instruction and the formation of the youth.

The spirituality of Joseph Marello is centered on the person of Saint Joseph, whom he made the master of his entire interior life and apostolic action. He taught his disciples fidelity in humble tasks, summarized by a motto that has remained famous: "Be extraordinary in ordinary things" and "Be Carthusians at home and apostles abroad." His rule of life is contained entirely in the formula "to attend to the interests of Jesus" and in the maxim "Jesus, only Jesus." During the canonization, Pope John Paul II emphasized that Marello had found in Christ the synthesis of all ideals and that he had modeled himself on the hidden service of Saint Joseph, rooted in a deep interior life. He was recognized for his humility, his charity toward all, especially toward the young and the abandoned, and for tireless and silent activity. This reputation for holiness, supported by his spiritual sons, led to the opening of his cause after his death. Pope Paul VI declared him venerable on June 12, 1978, recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues.

The cause of Joseph Marello first led to his declaration as venerable by Paul VI on June 12, 1978. The miracle accepted for the beatification was the healing, in 1944, of a young Oblate seminarian, Aldo Falconetti, who was suffering from tuberculous meningitis; this miracle was approved by John Paul II on April 2, 1993. Pope John Paul II proclaimed Joseph Marello blessed in Asti on September 26, 1993, presenting him as a model of charity and silent activity in the service of the young and the abandoned. The second miracle, studied for the canonization, took place in Peru: the simultaneous healing of two children, Alfredo and Isilia Chávez León, from severe bronchopneumonia on a background of chronic malnutrition. John Paul II canonized Joseph Marello in Saint Peter's Square in Rome on November 25, 2001, at the same time as Paula Montal Fornés de San José de Calasanz, Léonie Françoise de Sales Aviat, and Maria Crescentia Höss. His liturgical feast is celebrated on May 30, the day of his death.

The most lasting legacy of Joseph Marello is the Congregation of the Oblates of Saint Joseph, which he founded in 1878. Starting in 1915, the first Oblate missionaries left Italy for the Philippines, and the congregation subsequently expanded to several continents, notably the United States, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Poland, India, and Nigeria. Faithful to the spirit of their founder, the Oblates dedicate themselves to the Christian education of youth, service to the poor, and pastoral assistance, under the patronage of Saint Joseph. His memory remains particularly alive in Asti, where a shrine is dedicated to him, as well as in the Diocese of Acqui, which he governed. His figure has contributed to promoting devotion to Saint Joseph in contemporary Catholic spirituality. The canonization of 2001 confirmed the reach of his message of holiness lived in the ordinary, which is taken up in the formation and preaching of the communities that claim him as their founder.