Andrea Maria Borello

On July 8, 1936, at the age of twenty, Riccardo entered the community of the Society of Saint Paul in Alba as an aspirant "Disciple of the Divine Master" (the name given to the congregation's lay brothers). On March 19, 1937, Father Timoteo Giaccardo (now Blessed), then superior in Alba, gave him the religious habit. Riccardo then took the name Brother Andrea Maria.

After beginning his novitiate in Rome in April 1937, he pronounced his first vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience on April 7, 1938, before the founder of the Pauline Family, Father Giacomo Alberione (now Blessed). Upon returning to the motherhouse in Alba, he was first assigned to work in the institute's paper mill, and then to the shoemaking workshop (calzoleria).

Brother Andrea Maria led a hidden and humble life, performing his daily tasks with extreme care and a spirit of continual prayer. He thus actively collaborated in the congregation's mission of evangelization through his manual labor, which was indispensable to the proper functioning of the Pauline editions. He pronounced his perpetual vows on March 20, 1944.

The spiritual life of Brother André-Marie is characterized by a deep reparatory piety and an intense filial devotion to the Virgin Mary, under the title of Queen of the Apostles. Conscious of having a naturally lively and sometimes irascible temperament, he strove each day to progress in humility and gentleness, often asking his companions to pray that he might obtain this grace. In March 1948, with the agreement of his spiritual director, he made a total offering of his life to God. His intention was to obtain the grace of fidelity for all those called to the religious and priestly vocation, suffering deeply to see some abandon their commitment. Shortly after this offering, he was struck by a fulminating tuberculosis. He was transferred to the sanatorium that the institute then possessed in Sanfrè (Cuneo). There, he lived his final months in an attitude of total abandonment and offered suffering.

Brother Andrea Maria Borello passed away holily in Sanfrè during the night of September 3 to 4, 1948, at the age of 32. The doctor attending him testified to his peaceful departure, marked by a smile as he gazed at an image of the Virgin Mary. To avoid any risk of contagion, his letters and personal effects were burned by order of the health authorities. In 1959, his remains were transferred from the Sanfrè cemetery to the institute's chapel at the Alba cemetery, and later to the Temple of Saint Paul the Apostle in Alba, where he now rests alongside other figures of the Pauline Family. The cause for beatification was introduced in the diocese of Alba on May 31, 1964 (informative process) and concluded on June 23, 1969. After the examination of the Positio and the favorable opinion of the theological consultants, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues on March 3, 1990, thereby proclaiming him Venerable.

The spirituality of the Venerable Andrea Maria Borello is that of a "saint of the everyday." He knew how to transform the humblest manual labor—notably that of a shoemaker—into a true ministry of evangelization and prayer. In his workshop, he always kept the Gospel in a place of honor, reading it and having his companions read it before beginning work.

His legacy lies in his testimony of absolute fidelity to his vocation as a lay brother (Disciple of the Divine Master), which he considered an indispensable support to the ministry of priests. His heroic offering for the perseverance of vocations remains a model of fraternal and ecclesial charity for the entire Pauline Family throughout the world.