Luigi Olivares was born in Corbetta, Province of Milan, on 18 October 1873, as the fourth of fifteen children (one brother was to become a missionary and one sister a Canossian nun). In the archdiocesan seminary he completed his ecclesiastical studies having Monsignor Pasquale Morganti as his spiritual director, from whom he learnt a deep admiration and veneration for Don Bosco. Ordained priest in 1896, he immediately wanted to become a Salesian, but his bishop, Cardinal Ferrari, (now a Blessed) sent him, a young priest of just 22 years of age, as the vice-rector of the archdiocesan college in Saronno.

After a wait of eight years, he was accepted by the Salesians. He graduated in Theology and taught Moral Theology and Sociology in the studentate of Foglizzo (1906-1910). He was then sent as parish priest of the incipient parish of Santa Maria Liberatrice at Testaccio in Rome. The neighbourhood was visibly transformed, thanks to the goodness of its new parish priest. One day, when he was slapped in the street by a violent man, Fr Luigi said: "Thank you!" and presented the other cheek! His confessional was besieged from morning to night. On solemnities, the confessional became the central focus of the day, from which he would lead the faithful to the celebration of Mass with his inimitable preaching 6 to 7 times a day.

His pastoral ministry was distinguished by catechetical training and the education of children and young people and by numerous works of charity for evicted people, the earthquake victims and the needy. In 1916 he was chosen by Benedict XV as Bishop of Sutri and Nepi. He was consecrated bishop by the Salesian Cardinal Giovanni Cagliero, in his own parish church, on 29 October 1916. It was at this time he laid out a five-point rule to himself:

1. 'I will love my diocese like a bride.
2. In prayer I will treat the interests of souls with Jesus,I will not make any important decision before having consulted Him.
3. I will avoid luxury and all that is superfluous.
4. I will have a timetable and observe it faithfully.
5. The moto of my episcopal life will be: Charity disposed to every sacrifice'.

So, he did for 26 years, in the Salesian spirit: 'I am, by God's gift, a Christian, a priest, a Salesian and a bishop: I must make myself a saint'.

He died outside his diocese on 19 May 1943, while preaching a series of retreats to high school students in Pordenone. He was seventy years old. He now rests in Nepi Cathedral and was declared Venerable on 20 December 2004.

To commemorate this luminous figure, Fr Maurizio Spreafico SDB, the parish priest of the church of Santa Maria Liberatrice, and the Salesian Community of Testaccio 'San Giuseppe Cafasso', led by the Rector Fr Oreste Fistarol, organized and participated in a solemn Eucharist on the anniversary day.

During the celebration, concelebrated by a total of almost 40 priests, Fr Cameroni, who presided over it, retraced the fundamental passages of the life and spirituality of Bishop Olivares. Olivares, always emphasized a continuous and filial attachment to the Congregation, even when he had become bishop. Fr Cameroni cited a part of the homily of his first Mass as parish priest at Testaccio, in which he presented himself to the new faithful as follows: "All the fellow citizens of Testaccio: I love you all in the Lord, even those who by chance do not see a friend in the person of the priest. To seek good, to strive to do good, to work, to give one's life to do good to all, is a right for every human heart, and it is a duty for the priestly heart. Yes! Yes! tell this to those who are far from us, far from God: in my heart there is room for everyone, for I am the shepherd and father of all.

• Title Title
•  

Tweet