Born in Tradate (Novara) on April 7, 1860.
Died in Cartagena (Colombia) on November 13, 1943.
Ordained a priest for the Foreign Missions Seminary on December 23, 1883, in Cartagena of the Indies in Colombia, he was first secretary and then vicar general of Bishop Eugenio Biffi, his brother and predecessor. After having governed the diocese of Cartagena as vicar capitular, he was elected bishop on February 15, 1898. Having elevated the same see to metropolitan status, he was promoted to archbishop on June 20, 1900. He died in his see after 47 years of industrious episcopate.
Since 1899 he came into contact with Don Guanella, to whom he paid homage the biography he wrote of Msgr. Biffi. Returning to Italy in 1911, he visited the Guanellian houses in Milan and Menaggio and Don Guanella proposed to Don * Francesco Deleidi to invite him to San Paolo d'Argon to solemnly celebrate the feasts of that parish and make the population aware of the needs of the Catholic missions. The Guanellian bulletin, in March 1896, also recalled the death of Signora Brioschi, benefactress of the Guanellian works and «fortunate mother of two children: one a missionary priest of the college of S. Calocero; the other in his own country and surroundings, father of orphans and protector of the derelicts». Attilio Brioschi, brother of the bishop, was one of the main benefactors of the agricultural colony of Nuova Olonio: he subscribed shares for £ 1000 and was a member of the board of directors chaired by Don Guanella. A letter from Don Luigi dated 12 October 1910 communicated to Don Silvio Vannoni the acceptance of Attilio Brioschi «in the Houses of Milan, of Menaggio provisionally or in Roveredo according to the circumstances».
Sources
- Hierarchia catholica medii et modernioris aevi, vol. VIII: 1846-1903, edited by Remigium Ritzler and Pirminum Sefrin, Padua, Editrice «Il Messaggero di S. Antonio», 1978, p. 186.
Guanellian sources
- Obituary, in «La Divina Provvidenza», 1896, p. 28.
- Epistolary of Luigi Guanella, edited by the Centro Studi Guanelliani, E 2703, E 1168, E 1054, E 1055.
- Our dead, in "The Divine Providence", 1944, p. 5.
- Gleaning, in "The Divine Providence", 1911, p. 135.
- Catholic agricultural colony in Pian di Spagna above Colico. Let's save the farmer!, in "The Divine Providence", 1900, p. 32.
- The agricultural colony, in "The Divine Providence", 1900, p. 39.
Image
- Funeral image (courtesy of Father Mauro Mezzadonna, general archivist of PIME).
AM Dieguez
Guanellian Encyclopaedia
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