Joseph Marello

Saint Joseph Marello (December 26, 1844 - May 30, 1895) was the son of Vincenzo and Anna Maria Marello. Joseph's mother died when he was very young, and the family moved from Turin to San Martino Alfieri, Italy.

Joseph entered the seminary at age 12. At age 19 he contracted typhus and promised Our Lady that if he survived, he would continue his studies to be ordained. He recovered, attributed the cure to Our Lady of Consolation, and was ordained on 19 September 1868.

Joseph became the secretary to Bishop Carlo Savio at Asti, Italy for 13 years. He attended the First Vatican Council with Bishop Savio in 1869-1870. Later, he took over an Asti retirement home to save it from bankruptcy. Joseph became the spiritual director and catechist in his diocese. In 1878, Joseph became the founder of the Oblates of Saint Joseph, a congregation dedicated to caring for the poor, educating the young, and assisting bishops in any capacity required. On February 17, 1889, he became the Bishop of Acqui, Italy. Joseph visited all the parishes in his diocese, and wrote six pastoral letters to his flock. He died while participating in a celebration of the 3rd centennial of St. Philip Neri.

Canonization

The cause for his canonization began on May 28, 1948. On June 12, 1978 the Degree of heroic virtue was read in the presence of Pope Paul VI. The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, beatified Joseph Marello on the 26 September 1993 in Asti, and pointed him out as an example of charity, of untiring and silent work for youth and the abandoned, and as a model for all Pastors of the People of God and for all those who throughout the world carry on the work of the apostles.

Then by a solemn decree on December 18, 2000, the Holy Father declared that the miracle worked by God through the intercession of Blessed Joseph Marello, Bishop of Acqui, Founder of the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Joseph, has been verified: namely the sudden, complete and enduring recovery of the children Alfredo and Isilia Chávez León, who were both restored to health at the same time from broncho-pulmonitis, a sickness accompanied by high fever, dyspnoea and cyanosis in patients, and usually caused by chronic malnutrition.

After the recognition of this miracle, Pope John Paul II on the 13 March 2001, during a public ordinary consistory for the canonization of the Blessed, solemnly pronounced:

"By the authority of Almighty God, of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of Our own, We declare that: ...the Blessed Joseph Marello... be inscribed in the Album of Saints on 25th November 2001".

External links

• Vatican biography