Born in Parma on February 8, 1836.
Died in Parma on April 22, 1905.
He entered the Order of Friars Minor in the Bolognese province of the Most Holy Redeemer in 1852, made his solemn profession on 12 December 1853. Ordained a priest in 1858, he taught philosophy and theology from 1860 until the suppression of the convents in 1866. Once the religious province was reconstituted, he he was the first provincial minister from 1882 until October 3, 1889, when he was elected general minister of the Friars Minor. He governed the order until 1897, inaugurating the S. Antonio college in Rome and preparing the reunion of the various families of his order sanctioned by Leo XIII in 1897. On 3 August 1901 he was elected titular archbishop of Ptolemais and shortly after declined the appointment to headquarters in Reggio Emilia, for health reasons. In 1904, on behalf of Pius X, he carried out the apostolic visit to the dioceses of Milan, Como and Lodi, delivering a final report described as "verbose" by the consultor of the Congregation of the Council in charge of examining it.
Don Guanella met Msgr. Canali on the occasion of the apostolic visit to the diocese of Como: on 11 August 1904 he was able to have lunch with him and ascertain that he was "very good mannered". Three days later, perhaps following his visit to the *Casa Divina Provvidenza, Don Guanella reiterated that "he was very courteous". Indeed, in his report, Msgr. Canali entrusted the exposition on the two Guanellian religious institutes to two reports provided to him by the Founder himself, Works of the Casa Divina Provvidenza established by the priest Luigi Guanella e Daughters of St. Mary of Providence.
Sources
- GISELA FLECKENSTEIN, to the voice, in Biographical-Bibliographical Church Lexicon, vol. VI, Nordhausen, Verlag Traugott Bautz 1993, coll. 1554-1556.
- 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, pp. 471-472.
- LIVARIUS OLIGIER, to the voice, in Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. III, Vatican City, Institute for the Catholic Encyclopedia and for the Catholic Book, 1949, coll. 504-505.
- AGOSTINO MOLINI, On the tomb of Msgr. Luigi Canali, former general minister of the Friars Minor, archv. tit. of Ptolemais. Funeral memorial read in Parma in the commemoration of the trigesima on 25 May 1905, Rome, Tip. Sallustiana, 1905.
Guanellian sources
- Epistolary of Luigi Guanella, edited by the Centro Studi Guanelliani, E 2555, E 2738.
- Vatican Secret Archive, Congr. Concist., Apostolic Visit, b. 17, diocese of Como.
Image
Portrait of the General Curia (courtesy of Father Pedro Gil, general archivist of the Order of Friars Minor).
AM Dieguez
Guanellian Encyclopaedia
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