ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 5th of December
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
BL. PHILIP RINALDI, PRIEST AND RELIGIOUS
Bl. Philip (Filippo) Rinaldi was born in mid-1856 in Lu Monferrato as the eighth child to the farmers Cristobolo Rinaldi and Antonia Brezza. He knew St John Bosco since 1861.
Rinaldi started his educational studies at Mirabello Monferrato in which the Salesians of Don Bosco oversaw his education; the assistance for him there was Paolo Albera but Rinaldi later returned to his home despite St John Bosco making an effort to convince him to reconsider his decision.
He continued his life as a farmer but received some letters from Bosco and some books from Albera regarding religious vocations and the process of discernment. In 1874 his parents welcomed St John Bosco who decided to visit Rinaldi but he proved to be most persistent in his decision not to continue his religious studies.
ST JOHN BOSCO VISITED HIM
St John Bosco's insistence at least managed to get his parents to convince to return to the school; his mother proved more vocal in this and even some people from the town also attempted to convince him.
In 1876 he prepared to wed but St John Bosco visited him once more to convince him that he should consider the religious life instead as a more viable alternative; in November 1877 he agreed to go to the order's house at Sampierdarena as the place that Bosco referred to as a place "for late vocations".
The director there at Sampierdarena was his priest friend Paolo Albera. It was a simplistic experience for Rinaldi to take on books but he learned to do so and joined the novitiate in San Benito Canaves in September 1879; he later received the cassock from St John Bosco himself on October 20, 1879.
HE RECEIVED THE CASSOCK FROM ST JOHN BOSCO HIMSELF
He made his initial profession on August 13, 1880 and he later received his ordination to the priesthood on December 23, 1882 in the Ivrea Cathedral from Archbishop Davide Riccardi.
St John Bosco appointed him as the director of the house for late vocations in Mathi.
Bosco showed Rinaldi in 1887 a map of Australia and told him that the Salesians would soon work there but told Rinaldi his work would be in Spain and not in Australia.
"LECTURAS CATOLICAS"
In 1889 he was sent to Spain as the director of the order at Sarria where he was set to work until 1901 while also serving as the provincial director for the order in his part of Spain from 1892 until 1901. In 1895 he began the production of the newspaper entitled "Lecturas Catolicas".
On April 1, 1901 he returned to Turin as the order's vicar general during the term of Blessed Michele Rua; but in 1910 it was his old friend Albera who succeeded Rua. But Albera's death later in 1921 saw the ensuring General Chapter electing Rinaldi the Rector Major and third successor of St John Bosco on May 24, 1922.
INTERNATIONAL VISITS
Rinaldi helped in the establishment of the World Federations of Past-Pupils and he also helped to organize the Salesian International Congress slated for 1911.
In 1925 he undertook a series of international visits throughout Europe to nations such as Poland and France as well as returning to Spain.
HE DISPATCHED MEMBERS FOR THE MISSIONS
On May 20, 1917 he founded the Secular Institute of Don Bosco Volunteers in Ivrea and dispatched members of the order to countries such as India and Japan for the missions and other objectives. During his term the number of Salesians shot up 66 per cent from 6000 to 10000 members.
Rinaldi died in mid-1931 in Turin and his remains were interred in Turin but later relocated in a Salesian-established basilica. He had suffered from heart muscle weakness from 1928 to his death.
His order later received diocesan approval from the Cardinal Archbishop of Turin Michele Pellegrino on January 31, 1971 and received full pontifical approval from Pope Paul VI on August 5, 1978 right before the pontiff's death.
(Information from Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Rinaldi)
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