Scalabrini is a Saint

On October 9 Blessed John Baptist Scalabrini has been proclaimed a saint. During the Ordinary Consistory, Pope Francis had announced the date on which the Bishop of Piacenza, founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo and the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo Scalabrinians and inspirer of the Scalabrini Secular Missionaries, will be canonized.

This is good news not only for all those who bear his name, for migrants and refugees, for lay people who participate in the Scalabrinian mission, but for the whole Church.

Implementing a suggestion of the Paris community, the general postulation, with the vice-postulators, organized a prayer vigil throughout the congregation to commemorate the anniversary of the Founder’s birth and to thank God for the announcement that he will be proclaimed a saint. Prayer was expressed in different ways: some followed the texts that had been prepared for this event and others used other forms of prayer. Forty-eight communities participated in the vigil, which everyone could connect to online. The General Administration, with the missionaries who were participating in the meeting of representatives in the Church offices, opened the vigil from Rome, which was followed by 8 communities from the Our Lady of Migrants Region; 8 communities from the St. Charles Borromeo Province; 8 communities from the St. John the Baptist Province; 12 communities from the St. Frances
Cabrini Province; and 11 communities from the Our Lady Mother of Migrants Region, covering the 33 countries where we are present. The vigil ended in Fino Mornasco, at the baptistery where Scalabrini was baptized on the day of his birth. It was a manifestation of choral union in prayer, in the spirit of the Founder who trusted prayer with unshakable faith.