May 7 - Saint Agostino Roscelli

Quick Facts

• Born to a poor farming family, he spent his youth as a mountain shepherd, using his solitary time for prayer.
• During a parish mission in May 1835, he realized a call to the priesthood, a calling he attacked with prayer which led to financial aid that allowed him to study at Genoa.
• Ordained on 19 September 1846.
• Priest at Saint Martin d'Albaro in 1846, then the Church of Consolation in Genoa in 1854.
• Chaplain of the provincial orphanage in 1874, a post he held for 22 years.
• Prison chaplain, working especially with those condemned to death.
• He established a residential school to train young women who were in danger of starvation or falling into prostitution because they had no support.
• On 15 October 1876, he founded the Institute of Sisters of the Immaculata to run this and other residential centers he established.