Grandson of Saint Joseph Cafasso on his mother's side, Joseph Allamano was born in Castelnuovo d 'Asti on 21 January 1851. He attended secondary school in Valdocco and, as an educator, he boasted nothing less than Don Bosco himself. At the age of 22 he was ordained a priest in Turin, and immediately he was in charge of the formation of young seminarians. At 29 he became Rector of the most important Marian shrine in the city, dedicated to Our Lady of Consolation, and formator of the young clergy at the Convitto Ecclesiastico.
On 29 January 1901 he founded the Institute of the Missionaries of the Consolata in Turin. The bulletin of the sanctuary, La Consolata, announced it with a prophetic expression: "The veneration of the Consolata will not only be contemplative, but active". That is, with the missions, the Marian shrine will acquire a universal dimension.
On 8 May 1902 the first four missionaries, two priests and two brothers left for Kenya, followed, at the end of the same year, by four other priests and a layman. In 1910 Joseph Allamano founded the Women's Institute of the Missionaries of the Consolata. He died in Turin on 16 February 1926. His body is now preserved and venerated in the Mother House of the Missionaries of the Consolata, in Turin. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 7 October 1990.
In the autumn of 1862, at the age of eleven, Joseph entered the Salesian oratory at Valdocco for his secondary school studies. They were the years of Don Bosco, an educator priest present among the boys in the courtyard and in direct contact in confession. Don Bosco of the good nights under the portico. These were the years marked by the testimony of Dominic Savio, Michael Magone, Francis Besucco, and the first Salesians. Given his intelligence, the young Allamano was able to complete his studies in just four years, always first in his class. In his third year he also had the position of assistant.
The school notebooks of those years, each of which is a small model of order, also testify to his application to study. He wrote everything and kept everything, which for a boy not yet fifteen is an indication of uncommon diligence. More than any other, Don Bosco himself loved and respected him. He was his confessor for all that time. Knowing young people so well he wanted to keep him at the Oratory and encourage him to enter the Salesian Society. But there was no turning back.
Instead, to escape further insistence, the young man left the Oratory on 19 August 1866 without saying goodbye. A choice probably motivated by the "too busy and noisy" life in Valdocco and that he did not think was made for him. Later, Don Bosco gently reprimanded him: "You made a mistake!... You left without saying goodbye to me". Without saying goodbye to Don Bosco, but carrying his spirit with him, as well as a deep gratitude to his great Teacher. It was God who guided events according to his wondrous ends.
In the process of beatification of Don Bosco, Allamano would testify: "he was loved by all for his kindness and received signs of reverence and affection from all. His system was to attracy hearts and I know of nobody who complained about him. To me, his penitent, it seemed that he read my heart and guessed many things... I remember in particular his so-called dreams, in which, one every year, he indicated the state of our conscience, which he then manifested to each one privately, taking the opportunity to give each one appropriate warnings and advice.”
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the Archives of the Salesian General Postulation preserve a document of historical value: the appointment made on 18 March 1925 by Canon Giuseppe Allamano, Rector of the Sanctuary of the Consolata and of the Ecclesiastical Boarding School of Turin, for Fr Francesco Tomasetti, Procurator General of the Salesians, as Postulator of the Cause of Beatification and Canonisation of the Venerable Joseph Cafasso, of which Allamano was the initiator and promoter.
