Luigi Guanella was born in Fraciscio di Campodolcino in Val San Giacomo (Sondrio) on 19 December 1842. He died in Como on 24 October 1915. From childhood he absorbed the values of the inhabitants of that valley, fervently attached to the Catholic religion in contrast with the neighboring Canton of Grisons reformed. They lived in poverty, dedicated to the hardest work to guarantee the minimum of survival. Thus Guanella learned the habit of sacrifice and work, autonomy, patience and firmness in decisions, together with great faith. These qualities were deeply felt in his family: his father Lorenzo, severe and authoritarian mayor of Campodolcino for 24 years, his mother Maria Bianchi, sweet and patient, and 13 children. At the age of twelve he obtained a free place in the Gallio college in Como and then continued his studies in the diocesan seminaries (1854-1866). His cultural and spiritual formation is that common to the seminaries in Lombardy-Venetia, for a long time under the control of the Austrian rulers. In the theological seminary he became familiar with the bishop of Foggia, Bernardino Frascolla, imprisoned in the Como prison, then under house arrest in the seminary (1864-66), and he became aware of the hostility that dominated the relations of the unitary state towards the Church. He was ordained a priest on 26 May 1866, starting his pastoral life with enthusiasm in Valchiavenna (Prosto, 1866 and Savogno, 1867-1875) and, after a three-year Salesian period, again in the parish in Valtellina (Traona, 1878-1881), for a few months in Olmo and finally in Pianello Lario (Como, 1881-1890): In Pianello he was able to devote himself to assistance to the poor, taking over the Hospice founded by his predecessor Don Carlo Coppini, with some Ursulines who he organized into a religious congregation (Figlie di S Maria della Provvidenza) and with these he started the Casa della Divina Provvidenza in Como (1886), with the collaboration of Sister Marcellina Bosatta and her sister Beata Chiara. The House and the Work underwent rapid development, blessed and supported by Bishop B Andrea Ferrari and under the protection and friendship of St. Pius X. In the men's congregation he had as distinguished collaborators don Aurelio Bacciarini, later bishop of Lugano, and don Leonardo Mazzucchi.
Saint Luigi Guanella Documentary video
