A city in ferment, active and industrious, growing at a fast pace: Turin in the 1800s was an ever-expanding agglomeration: in just three decades, from the beginning of the century to 1830, it went from 80,000 to 127,000 inhabitants.
Growth continued throughout the nineteenth century, but unfortunately it also had a downside: many went there in search of a job and better living conditions, but not everyone could achieve their dreams.
The ranks of the poor swelled day after day: crowded into poor homes, many barely survived and only thanks to public assistance, which, however, was often not enough.
It is in this context that the "social saints" of Turin took on a fundamental role: religious and lay people who with their works ensured essential help to the needy or, as in the case of St Joseph Allamano, contributed to the birth and spread of missions around the world.
The Venerable Tancredi Falletti of Barolo established free schools
The only son of Marquis Ottavio Alessandro Falletti di Barolo and Paolina Teresa d'Oncieux, Tancredi was born in Turin on 26 October 1782. His father took him with him on numerous trips. It was during one of these stays, in France, that he met Juliette (Giulia) Colbert, whom he married in 1806 in Paris to move with her to Turin in 1814. Their inability to have children was interpreted by the couple as a divine sign: they decide that their economic availability would be made available to the needy.
In his positions in municipal administration (he was mayor for two years) Tancredi gave life to charitable initiatives such as the establishing of free schools for the children of the poor, a kindergarten and an art school for the destitute. During the cholera epidemic in 1835, he organised temporary hospitals to accommodate the sick. In 2018 he was declared venerable by Pope Francis.
The Venerable Giulia Falletti di Barolo opened an institute for unwed mothers
Wife of Tancredi Falletti di Barolo, Juliette (Giulia) was born on 27 June 1785 in the castle of Maulévrier, in Vendée (France), daughter of Count Éduard Colbert and Countess AnneMarie-Louise Quengo de Crénolle.
Maid of Honor of Giuseppina Beauharnais, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, after her marriage and transfer to Turin, she and her husband dedicated themselves to charity.
She carried out projects for the rehabilitation and reintegration of female prisoners into society, an institute for unwed mothers, a vocational school for the daughters of poor families and a house for girls at risk in addition to the construction of the church of Santa Giulia in Turin.
She died on 19 January 1864, leaving the instructions to found the Opera Pia Barolo, a charity to which she donated her family's assets.
In 2015 Pope Francis declared her Venerable.
Don Bosco founded the Salesian Congregation
The future founder of the Salesians (who are now in over 130 countries around the world) was born in a small farmhouse in the Becchi hamlet, in the municipality of Castelnuovo d 'Asti (today Castelnuovo Don Bosco) on 16 August 1815 to Francesco Bosco and Margherita Occhiena, both farmers.
Having lost his father at the age of two, he began working at the age of 11 while his vocation grew stronger and stronger. He worked several jobs in order to pay for his studies and in 1835 he entered the seminary.
Six years later he was ordained priest and moved to the Convitto Ecclesiastico in Turin. Here he began his work of approaching the poorest young people he met on the street and in the city's building sites
It is precisely for them that he established the first oratory in Valdocco (Turin) in 1846, a place dedicated to marginalised young people where they were guaranteed concrete help, education and job training.
Soon the number of oratories increased, helping an increasing number of children in need. In 1859 he founded the Salesian Congregation (after Saint Francis de Sales) with which he carried out his mission on behalf of young people.
He died on 31 January 1888 and was canonised on 1 April 1934 by Pope Pius XI.
St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo opened an infirmary for abandoned patients
Born in Bra (Cuneo) on 3 May 1786, he was the first of twelve children (six of whom died at an early age) by Giuseppe Antonio Cottolengo and Benedetta Chiarotti.
Ordained a priest in 1811, he graduated in Theology in Turin with honours on 14 May 1816.
Increasingly interested in spiritual research, on 2 September 1827 Fr Joseph Cottolengo was called to the bedside of a mother of three children, and the fourth on the way, rejected by several hospitals in Turin.
The death of the woman shocked him and he decided to establish a small infirmary to avoid a recurrence of similar cases. Thus, in 1828, "Deposito de’ poveri infmi del Corpus Domini" was founded, dedicated to the sick who were not accepted into hospitals.
Four years later Fr Joseph founded, once again in Turin, the "Little House of Divine Providence" (known as "Cottolengo"): where poor and disabled people, epileptics, deaf, disabled and orphans could find health care, assistance, education.
He died on 30 April 1842. In 1934 Pope Pius XI proclaimed him a saint.
St Leonard helped street kids
Leonard Murialdo was born in Turin on 26 October 1828 to a wealthy family. Losing his father at the age of five, he entered the Piarist Fathers boarding school in Savona, but during his adolescence he experienced an existential and spiritual crisis that brought him back to his family in Turin.
Here he made the decision to become a priest and was ordained in 1851.
Appreciated by St John Bosco, who entrusted him with the St Aloysius Oratory (near the Porta Nuova railway station), he dedicated himself entirely to young people in need: through the oratory, catechesis, school, vocational training and recreational activities, he approached and helped street children, the poorest.
It was thanks to him that a family home and an agricultural colony were created in Rivoli (Turin). In 1873 he founded the Congregation of St Joseph, which continued its work of assistance for young people including after his death on 30 March 1900.
Pope Paul VI would canonise him on 3 May 1970.
Source: Airone magazine
