Feast of Blessed Joseph Allamano - Feb16

Blessed Joseph Allamano or Giuseppe Allamano was born at Castelnuova in Asti, Italy on January 21, 1851 as the fourth in a family of five children and he is the nephew of Saint John Cafasso, his father died when Joseph was only three years old. Giuseppe studied at the Salesian Oratory in Valdocco, Italy and Saint John Bosco was one of his spiritual directors.

He entered the diocesan seminary of Turin, Italy in November 1866 and on September 20, 1873 got ordained as priest and later become spiritual director of the Turin seminary. On October 2, 1880 he was appointed rector of the Consolata Shrine and he modified the shrine and made it a source for spiritual renewal throughout the diocese.

On January 29, 1901 Fr Allamano founded the Consolata Missionary Priests and Brothers and the first missionaries reached Kenya in 1902. On January 29, 1910 he founded the Consolata Missionary Sisters for women with a missionary vocation.

Fr Allamano died on February 16 (day chosen for his memorial) at Turin, Italy of natural causes. He was venerated on May 13, 1989 and beatified on October 7, 1990 by Pope John Paul II.

N.B: Founded in 1901(priests and brothers) and in 1910 (sisters) by Blessed Joseph Allamano in Turin, Italy, the Consolata Missionaries now count with about one thousand members (priests and brothers) working in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and America.