Luigi Tezza

The major work of Luigi Tezza is the foundation, with Saint Giuseppina Vannini (canonized in 2019), of the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Camillus (Figlie di San Camillo) on February 2, 1892, in Rome. This female institute was born from Luigi Tezza's desire to extend the charism of Saint Camillus de Lellis to women, in order to provide complete bodily and spiritual assistance to the sick and suffering.

The Daughters of Saint Camillus profess, in addition to the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, a fourth vow of service to the sick, even at the peril of their lives. Under the initial leadership of Giuseppina Vannini and thanks to the spiritual and epistolary support of Luigi Tezza, the congregation developed rapidly in Italy, then in France, Belgium, and South America. Today, the Daughters of Saint Camillus continue their hospital and charitable mission on several continents, managing hospitals, clinics, and nursing schools.

The ordinary informative process for the beatification of Luigi Tezza opened in Rome on November 21, 1959, and closed on January 13, 1964. In 1964 and 1966, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued reservations (an obstare) due to the old slanders of 1895. This prompted the postulator, Father Bruno Brazzarola, to conduct a rigorous eight-year historical investigation, publishing five volumes of documents that proved the heroism and purity of life of Luigi Tezza. The cause was officially introduced in Rome on January 15, 1999.

The miracle accepted for his beatification occurred on January 5, 1994, in Lima, Peru. A 51-year-old mason, Domingo Nieves Pariona, survived in a scientifically inexplicable manner after being buried for two hours under approximately five tons of earth, sand, and stones at a construction site, without suffering fractures, organ damage, or traumatic asphyxia. The diocesan investigation into this miracle was validated on October 8, 1999, and the official decree approving the miracle was promulgated by Pope John Paul II on July 7, 2001.

Luigi Tezza was beatified on November 4, 2001, by Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, along with seven other servants of God. His liturgical feast is set for September 26, the day of his birth into heaven.

Luigi Tezza currently holds the status of blessed. On July 27, 2021, the Archdiocese of Ribeirão Preto in Brazil officially opened a diocesan inquiry into a new alleged miracle attributed to his intercession (the unexplained recovery of a woman who suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke in Orindiúva, São Paulo), marking an important step toward his future canonization.

The spirituality of Luigi Tezza rests entirely on merciful love towards the sick, in whom he saw the suffering Christ, in accordance with the Gospel word: "I was sick and you visited me" (Mt 25:36). His life was guided by an absolute submission to the will of God. He often repeated: "The will of God! That is my only guide, the only goal of my sighs, to which I want to sacrifice everything." This obedience led him to renounce his dreams of mission in Africa, to accept exile from France, to endure silence in the face of slander, and to settle permanently in Peru. His legacy is twofold. On one hand, the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Camillus, which continues to embody maternal tenderness towards the sick throughout the world. On the other hand, his example as a humble and tireless pastor in Peru. Initially buried in Lima, his body was transferred to Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1947-1948, then on December 15, 1999, to the motherhouse of the Daughters of Saint Camillus in Grottaferrata (near Rome), where he now rests alongside the co-founder, Saint Giuseppina Vannini.