Guido Maria Conforti

Saint Archbishop
Guido Maria Conforti
Archbishop of Parma

Guido Maria Conforti in 1910
Church Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese Parma
Metropolis Parma
See Parma
In office 12 December 1907 - 5 November 1931
Predecessor Francesco Magani
Successor Evasio Colli
Orders
Ordination 22 September 1888
by Giovanni Andrea Miotti
Consecration 11 June 1902
by Lucido Maria Parocchi
Personal details
Birth name Guido Maria Conforti
Born (1865-03-30)March 30, 1865
Casalora di Ravadese, Parma, Italy
Died November 5, 1931(1931-11-05) (aged 66)
Parma, Italy
Previous post
Motto In omnibus Christus ("Christ in all things")
Coat of arms
Sainthood
Feast day 5 November
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified 17 March 1996
Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City
by Pope John Paul II
Canonized 23 October 2011
Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City
by Pope Benedict XVI
Attributes Archbishop's attire
Patronage Xaverian Missionary Fathers

Saint Guido Maria Conforti (3 March 1865 – 5 November 1931) was a Roman Catholic Italian archbishop and was the founder of the Xaverian Missionary Fathers on 3 December 1895. He was known to make frequent visits to his parishes and worked to support the religious education and religious involvement among the youth.[1]

Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1996 and he was canonized in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Biography

Guido Maria Conforti was born in 1865 to Rinaldo Conforti and Antonia Adorni as the eighth of ten children.[2]

He attended elementary school from 1872 and each day on his way to the school he would stop by the church of Santa Maria della Pace where he used to have conversations in his parish church with the crucified Jesus Christ. This was when his vocation manifested, and he later recalled: "I looked at Him and He looked at me and seemed to say so many things".

He enrolled in the seminary in Parma at the age of 17 in November 1876, and he began exposing himself to the works of Saint Francis Xavier which inspired in him a desire to be a missionary, but requests to be a missionary of the Society of Jesus or the Salesians of Saint John Bosco were denied. At the time, his rector was Andrea Carlo Ferrari, future cardinal and Blessed. Their relationship became a friendship.

He was finally ordained to the priesthood on 22 September 1888 in Parma. After his priestly ordination, Conforti served as a professor at the seminary where he studied and he later became the vice-rector of the seminary. He became the Vicar-General of Parma on 7 March 1896.

Conforti established the Xaverian Missionaries on 3 December 1895 and it received the approval of Pope Leo XIII. At this time, in 1899, he sent the first missionaries to China. Leo XIII appointed him as the Archbishop of Ravenna on 9 June 1902 following the death of Cardinal Agostino Gaetano Riboldi, and he later submitted his resignation to a reluctant Pope Pius X due to his ill health in October 1904. The next month, on 14 November, he was made both the Coadjutor Bishop of Parma and the Titular Archbishop of Stauropolis.

In 1907 he became the Archbishop of Parma and he was known to travel to all parishes via horseback or other means to inspect his new archdiocese. He travelled to China in 1928 via Marseille to visit the Xaverian Missionaries' working there. He arrived in Shanghai on 26 October 1928 and met with his contacts to inspect their work.

Conforti returned to Parma soon after his visit to China and fell ill in October 1931. He died a month later and he was interred in Parma. His tomb was later relocated in 1942 and once more in 1996.[3]

Sainthood

The cause of sainthood was introduced in Parma on 29 May 1959 under Pope John XXIII and the work done on a diocesan level culminated on 11 February 1982 with Conforti being declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II on account of his life of heroic virtue.

A tribunal for a miracle needed for his beatification opened and closed in 1993 and John Paul II recognized the healing as a miracle on 6 April 1995. It led to his beatification on 17 March 1996.

A second tribunal for a miracle needed for canonization opened on 4 October 2005 and closed on 16 November 2005 and Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree for the miracle on 10 December 2010, leading to his canonization on 23 October 2011.

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ "Blessed Guido Maria Conforti". Saints SQPN. 16 March 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Blessed Guido Maria Conforti". Saints SQPN. 16 March 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Blessed Guido Maria Conforti". Saints SQPN. 16 March 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2015.

External links

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