ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL
Saints celebrated on the 25th of April
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.
ST GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIAMARTA, PRIEST
Saint Giovanni Battista Piamarta was born in Brescia on 26 November 1841 into a poor household; his father was a barber.
St Giovanni Battista lost his mother at the age of nine in 1850 and spent time living in the slums of the town. His maternal grandfather helped him to keep afloat and alive and sent him to the Oratory of St Thomas. His adolescence was difficult but thanks to the parish of Vallio Terme he entered the diocesan seminary.
"ZEALOUS, EXCELLENT, FLAWLESS IN EVERYTHING"
He was ordained to the priesthood on December 23, 1865 prior to Christmas and he began his pastoral mission in Carzago Riviera (Bedizzole), spending his first two decades in intense pastoral work, and is remembered as a priest "zealous, excellent, flawless in everything". In that time he was appointed as the priest (and later director) of the parish of St Alexander and later as the pastor of Pavone del Mella. Brescia was in the process of industrialisation and Piamarta identified with the difficulties and hopes of disadvantaged adolescents due to his own experiences on the streets as a child.
THE WORKMAN'S INSTITUTE
With Pietro Capetti and the Catholic Movement he started the Institute Artigianelli for the vocational and Christian education of the poorest children and adolescents on December 3, 1886. The "Workman's Institute" grew in workspaces and buildings, and a great amount of adolescents received an adequate technical education.
THE CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH
In 1889, he and Giovanni Bonsignori began the Agricultural Colony of Remedello. As a result, a range of the religious gathered around Piamarta who shared the ideals and labours of the mission.
In March 1900 he established the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth ("Piamartinis") to continue the work of technical Christian education around the world. This would include Italy, Angola, Mozambique, Brazil and Chile. Piamarta's work with the Brescian printing and publishing house, "Queriniana", helped make Brescia a European center of Catholic publications.
HIS HOLY DEATH
Giovanni Battista Piamarta died on April 25, 1913 in Remedello after a life spent in the service of God and his fellow neighbours. In 1926 his remains were moved to the church of the workmen that he himself had built.
(Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Piamarta)
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