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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

POPE BLESSES A STATUE OF ST. LUIGI ORIONE

VATICAN CITY, 25 JUN 2008 (VIS) - Before today's general audience, which was held in St. Peter's Square, Benedict XVI blessed a marble statue of St. Luigi Orione which has been positioned in an external niche in the back wall of the Vatican Basilica.

  St. Luigi Orione (1872-1940), an Italian priest, was the founder of the Little Work of Divine Providence which gained approval in 1903. In 1908, following an earthquake that devastated parts of Sicily and Calabria, he spent three years in those areas caring for victims, especially orphans. After the First World War Don Orione's Work expanded, with the foundation of colleges and of educational and assistance organisations. Missionary activity began in Brazil in 1913.

  John Paul II beatified Don Orione on 26 October 1980, and proclaimed him a saint on 16 May 2004. His feast day falls on 12 March.

  At the close of the general audience, the Holy Father greeted "with great affection", the members of the Orione Family and expressed his hope that the unveiling of the statue of their founder "will constitute for all his spiritual children a renewed stimulus to continue along the path indicated by St. Luigi Orione, especially in bringing to Peter's Successor - as he himself said - 'the small, the humble, the poor workers, and the rejects of life who are most dear to Christ, and the real treasures of the Church of Jesus Christ'".
AG/BLESSING STATUE/LUIGI ORIONE                VIS 20080625 (250)


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