Saint Who?
Saints Who Worked in Agriculture
Saint Luigi Orione
Priest and founder († 1940)Feast: March 12
“There is a supreme need and a supreme remedy for healing the wounds of this poor country that is so beautiful but so unfortunate! Take hold of the hearts and affections of the people and enlighten the youth: pour into everyone the great idea of Catholic redemption.” Aloysius “Luigi” Orione was born in Italy in 1872. His father dug roads for a living. Luigi joined the Franciscans at thirteen, but left after a year because of poor health. He was a student of John Bosco for three years, and entered a seminary shortly after Bosco’s death.
At his first Mass, Orione prayed that God would always grant those who came to him “bread, peace, and paradise.” With ceaseless energy, he cared for the poor and fought for souls. He established a number of religious and lay groups. One such group, the Hermits of Divine Providence, followed the Benedictine motto Ora et Labora (“Prayer and Work”) and staffed agricultural schools in rural areas, promoting the social and spiritual welfare of the community.
“Our faith,” wrote Luigi, “made powerful against every battle, has become the greatest and most divine comfort of human life; it is the highest inspiration of every value, of every holy heroism, of every beautiful art that does not die, of every true moral, religious, and civil greatness.” He died in 1940, and was canonized in 2004.
Beloved God, let the beauty and truth
of the Redemption bring restoration
to every place and every heart.
