From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

30 December =E2=80=93 Blessed Giovanni Maria Boccardo
He is remembered as =E2=80=9CFather of the Poor=E2=80=9D

Priest, Founder of the Poor Daughters of Saint Cajetan. Born on 20
November 1848 in Ca=E2=80=99Bianca, Moncalieri, Turin, Italy and died on 30 December 1913, aged 65 in Moncalieri, Turin, Italy of natural causes. Patronages--the Poor Daughters of St Cajetan and against cancer.
Blessed Giovanni is the elder brother of Blessed Luigi Boccardo
(1861-1936), whose memorial is on 9 June and who founded a
contemplative branch of his brother=E2=80=99s order.

Giovanni Maria Boccardo was born in Turin, Italy, in 1848 as the
eldest of ten children born to Gaspare Boccardo and Giuseppina
Malebra. He was baptised on 21 November. Three brothers--including
Luigi Boccardo--became priests and another three died as infants.

Giovanni was generous to the plight of the poor as a child and
adolescent and on one occasion cared for a blind beggar. He studied
with the Barnabites in 1861 and graduated from their school in 1864
and thereafter, commenced his studies for the priesthood. He was
Ordained in Turin in 1871.

After his Ordination, he was appointed assistant and then spiritual
director of the Seminaries in Chieri and Turin. In this office he was
a guide and father to his seminarians and gave them the best of his
heart and his priestly knowledge. He became a friend of St John Bosco,
whilst at the Seminaries and also met and forged longstanding
friendships with Blessed Leonardo Murialdo and Blessed Giuseppe
Allamano. He received a doctorate in his theological studies on 1
February 1877.

Fr Giovanni was named as a Canon of the Church of Santa Maria della
Scala in Chieri and in 1882 was appointed Parish Priest of Pancalieri.
He obediently accepted this post, which was to be his last on earth.
The separation from his Seminarians must have deeply pained his
sensitive heart. For Fr Boccardo, who maintained and increased his
early apostolic enthusiasm despite the stress of daily life, his
Parish was a true =E2=80=9Cmission land.=E2=80=9D On the day set for his so= lemn entry
into the parish, at the sight of the church=E2=80=99s bell tower in the distance, Fr Boccardo offered himself as a victim for the good of his parishioners, so that the Lord would not allow a single one of the
souls entrusted to his pastoral care to stray.

He was present for his brother Luigi=E2=80=99s first Mass as a priest on 8 = June 1884.
After serving as parish priest in Pancalieri for two years, the
village was stricken with cholera. Bl Boccardo threw himself into
caring for the sick, even at the risk of his own life, spending on
them all his physical and moral energies and means. When the epidemic
was over, the village was left with abandoned elderly, orphaned
children and poor people who no longer had a roof over their heads or
any resources. This situation made a deep impression on his fatherly
heart. He prayed, sought advice and, when he was certain of God=E2=80=99s
will, he laid the foundations of the Hospice of Charity and later, of
a Congregation of Sisters called the Poor Daughters of St Cajetan, who
in a few years spread throughout Piedmont and Italy.

He believed that a Parish Priest=E2=80=99s first duty was the saving of sou= ls,
via Catechesis and evangelisation. He preached Jesus Christ and His
Gospel in its entirety. He celebrated the Sacraments with zeal and
love, he preached to teach and help his parishioners grow in sanctity,
he was committed to the ministry of Confession and of visiting the
prisons of Saluzzo to provide spiritual comfort to prisoners. He was
the =E2=80=9Cgood father=E2=80=9D, the father of all, especially of the sic=
k and the
poor. His life was filled with arduous penances hidden beneath a
constant smile. When it was a question helping others, he never
refused.

As a faithful shepherd, he served his Parish with paternal affection
until his death on 30 December 1913. His secret? He did not seek
himself but sacrificed himself to strengthen, in his faithful, the
life of the spirit. And, he never failed to serve the body too of the
poor, the sick, the needy.

His spiritual writings run to a total of 44 volumes.
As of 2005 there were 132 religious in a total of 20 houses in Europe
and Argentina, India, various countries in Africa and Togo.

He was Beatified on 24 May 1998 by St Pope John Paul II. The
beatification miracle involved the complete healing from cancer of
80-year-old Lina Alvez De Oliveira of Sao Paolo, Brazil on 12 February
1968, hence his patronage against cancer.

https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/


=E2=80=9CDo you want to become a saint?
Imitate Jesus Christ,
walk in His footsteps,
think like Jesus,
speak like Jesus,
love like Jesus,
make your life,
a reproduction of His Life.=E2=80=9D
--Blessed Giovanni Maria Boccardo

=E2=80=9CHow many things Jesus tells us in our heart,
when we stand at His feet,
if we are careful to listen to His Voice!=E2=80=9D
--Blessed Giovanni Maria Boccardo

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