|
History and stories
|
 |
VERDUNO
PELAVERGA
Blessed Sebastiano
Valfrè
 Born in Verduno on the 9th of March 1629 into a poor family, like many in that period, he finished his studies among many economical difficulties in Alba and Bra, moving to Turin at sixteen years of age. He managed to keep himself by being a copyist, to complete his philosophical studies. In 1650 he got a degree in Theology and ordained priest within the next year in the Congregation of the Oratory. This was founded in 1649 by Father Pier Antonio Defera with the help of priest Ottavio Cambiani and it inspired towards the teachings of San Filippo Neri “the Apostle of Rome”. The premature death of Father Pier Antonio Defera at just 34 years old on the 11th of September 1650 caused a profound crisis in the young congregation and all of the extraordinary preaching, not only in church but also and above all in every corner of the city of Turin , accompanied by feverish confessional activity, visits to prisons and hospitals seemed to be destined to fail. In May of 1651 the young Sebastiano Valfrè presented himself to Father Ottavio Cambiani and asked to be admitted into the congregation, practically composed of only one person, without meansand near to closure. Valfrè was born poor, lived as a poor man and was not frightened by it. A little more than twenty years old, with a vitality and enthusiasm, not common, he threw himself into this new adventure to the full, without reserve and without savings, resuming the pastoral activity where Father Defera was constricted to interrupt. His tireless activity led him to have contacts with all social classes of Turin, from the most humble to His Royal Highness, the King of Piedmont, Vittorio Amadeo II. For the population, the majority illiterate and extremely poor, he became a sort of hope, but also a certainty of help in alleviating the moment’s difficulties. He dedicated all of his life to being an apostolate, so much that San Giovanni Bosco defined him “The Apostle of Turin”.An example was his assistance to the people of Turin during the seige of the French in 1706, the same Pietro Micca was looked after and confessed by Valfrè. Thanks to his assistance to the Savoyard troops during the war with the French, he was named patron of the army. He died in Turin on the 30th of January 1710 and on his death, Amedeo II of Savoy said he had lost a great friend and the poor, a great protector and father. He was the precursor and master of great Torinese Social Saints such as Giovanni Bosco, Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo and Giuseppe Cafasso.
He was blessed on the 15th of July 1834 by pope Gregorio XVI. He is liturgically remembered every 30th of January.
|
