Joseph Cafasso

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St. Joseph Cafasso
Confessor
Born January 15, 1811(1811-01-15)
Castelnuovo, Piedmont, Italy
Died June 23, 1860(1860-06-23) (aged 49)
Turin, Italy
Honored in Roman Catholic
Beatified 1925
Canonized 1947
Feast June 22
Attributes Minister
Patronage prison chaplains, captives, imprisoned people and prisoners

Giuseppe Cafasso (January 15, 1811 – June 23, 1860) was a significant social reformer in early nineteenth-century Turin, born in Castelnuovo d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy.

He was one of the so-called ‘Social Saints’ of nineteenth-century Turin,[1] who took it as their job to minister to the dispossessed, marginalised and often criminal elements of a city in the throes of industrialisation. He was the apostle of prisons and the comforter of those condemned to the death penalty, and was called "The Priest of the Gallows".

Cafasso is the patron saint of prison chaplains, captives, imprisoned people, prisoners and prisons.

A monument has been erected to his memory in Turin at the road crossing of Corso Regina Margherita, Corso Principe Eugenio and Corso Valdocco (called the Rondò della Forca, or the Gallows Roundabout).

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Notes

  1. ^ The ‘Social Saints’ of Turin, at time of writing, are taken to be Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, John Bosco, Maria Domenica Mazzarello, and Leonardo Murialdo. If the movement for her beatification proves successful Giulia di Barolo, who focused particularly on women prisoners, may come to be added to their number. See, for instance, this page from the official site of the Commune of Turin (English)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.