Carlo Salerio

In 1850, Msgr. Angelo Ramazzotti laid the foundations for a new work: the Lombard Seminary for Foreign Missions (which would later become the PIME - Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions). Carlo Salerio immediately and enthusiastically joined this project, alongside his friend Giovanni Battista Mazzucconi. After being received in an audience by Pope Pius IX in 1851, the first missionaries prepared for departure. In March 1852, Carlo Salerio received the missionary crucifix and embarked for Oceania as part of the first expedition of the Lombard Seminary. His destination was the island of Woodlark (located in present-day Papua New Guinea). Living conditions there were extremely harsh. The missionaries faced indifference, and even hostility, from the local populations, as well as severe tropical diseases. Afflicted by serious malarial fevers and renal tuberculosis, Carlo Salerio was forced to go to Sydney in 1855 to receive treatment. It was during this period that his companion, Giovanni Battista Mazzucconi, was martyred on the island of Woodlark. Deeply weakened physically and marked by what he then perceived as a failure of the mission, Carlo Salerio returned to Milan in 1858. Although registered as a 'quiescent' (retired) priest due to his ruined health, he refused to remain inactive. He taught English to future missionaries, dedicated himself to preaching and spiritual direction, and collaborated in charitable works. It was during this time that he met Carolina Orsenigo, a young Milanese woman committed to helping the disadvantaged. Together, they discerned a call to found a work dedicated to reparation and charity. On October 2, 1859, they officially founded the Institute of the Sisters of Reparation (Suore della Riparazione), initially established under the name 'Casa di Nazareth.' The institute aimed to offer refuge and rehabilitation to marginalized, abandoned, or socially struggling young girls and women, while maintaining a dimension of contemplative prayer and Eucharistic adoration. Carlo Salerio devoted the rest of his life to structuring this new congregation and supporting the activities of the PIME. His health continued to deteriorate due to the aftereffects of malaria. He passed away on September 29, 1870, at the age of 43, at the San Calogero PIME seminary in Milan.

The reputation for holiness of Carlo Salerio, nurtured by his missionary zeal, his humility in the face of trials, and his dedication to the poorest through the Institute of the Sisters of Reparation, persisted well after his death. The cause for beatification and canonization was officially opened in the Archdiocese of Milan. The diocesan inquiry into his life, virtues, and reputation for holiness was successfully conducted and solemnly concluded on October 2, 2004. The documents were then transmitted to Rome, to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, to be studied in detail.

On May 13, 2019, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Carlo Salerio. By this act, he was officially declared "Venerable." For his beatification to be pronounced, the Church requires the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. To this day, the cause is still ongoing, awaiting the examination and validation of such an event by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The spirituality of Carlo Salerio is deeply Eucharistic and reparatory. Marked by the painful experience of the mission in Oceania, he underwent a profound inner conversion, moving from a desire for distant spiritual conquest to a humble acceptance of the divine will. He understood that true "reparation" for offenses committed against God does not lie only in penance, but above all in the exercise of active charity toward the most suffering members of the Body of Christ. He spent long hours in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, drawing from the Eucharist the strength for his apostolic action. His institute, the Sisters of Reparation, carries this dual legacy: continuous Eucharistic adoration and service to women and young girls in difficulty. Today, the legacy of Carlo Salerio continues through the work of the Sisters of Reparation. Although born in Milan, the congregation quickly developed beyond Italian borders. As early as 1895, the sisters established themselves in Myanmar (Burma), then in Brazil, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. The mortal remains of the Venerable Carlo Salerio rest in the crypt of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Reparation, located on Via Padre Carlo Salerio in Milan, alongside the co-founder, the Servant of God Carolina Orsenigo.