Virgilio Angioni

Deeply moved by the post-war misery in Cagliari, Virgilio Angioni took in two poor young girls, Antonia and Efisia Banchero, on January 25, 1923, in a house on Via San Domenico. This home, entrusted first to Dominican sisters and then to Franciscans, moved on June 24, 1923, to the former Capuchin convent of San Benedetto. The work grew rapidly, welcoming hundreds of children. To perpetuate this action, he founded the congregation of the Daughters of Mary Most Holy, Mother of Divine Providence and the Good Shepherd (Sisters of the Good Shepherd of Cagliari), who dedicate themselves to the care and education of abandoned children, the elderly, and the excluded throughout Sardinia.

Exhausted by his devotion and the privations he imposed upon himself for the benefit of the poor, Virgilio Angioni died on September 3, 1947, in Cagliari at the age of 69. Initially buried in the Bonaria cemetery, his body was transferred in 1958 to the chapel of the Institute of the Good Shepherd (San Benedetto church) in Cagliari. His reputation for holiness as a "martyr of charity" prompted the Archdiocese of Cagliari to introduce his cause for beatification and canonization in 1991, gathering numerous testimonies regarding his heroic virtues.

The Roman phase of his cause examines the heroicity of his virtues. On December 20, 2004, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Virgilio Angioni, thus conferring upon him the title of Venerable. For his beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints is required. To this day, no miracle has been the subject of an official decree, and the cause is still ongoing.

The spirituality of Virgilio Angioni rests on an absolute trust in Divine Providence and on the imitation of Christ as the Good Shepherd. He considered social action to be the direct expression of the love of God. His legacy is perpetuated today in Sardinia through the work of the Good Shepherd, which manages, among other things, the "mensa del povero" (the table of the poor) in Cagliari for the needy and migrants. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd continue their mission of assistance, and several health facilities bear his name, such as the RSA and the Monsignor Virgilio Angioni Hospice in Flumini de Quartu.