BL. ARSENIO OF TRIGOLO, PRIEST AND FOUNDER - 10 DECEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 10th of December

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BLESSED ARSENIO OF TRIGOLO, PRIEST AND FOUNDER

Arsenio of Trigolo (Giuseppe Antonio Migliavacca) was born an innkeeper's son in Cremona on June 13, 1849. In 1862 the pious young man began his studies for the priesthood, receiving his ordination to the priesthood on March 21, 1874. He decided to pursue the religious life and was admitted into the Jesuits on in November 1875. 

Until 1886 he was stationed at Soresina and then at Wien from 1886 until 1887 for further Jesuit probation. He was also sent to Mantua in 1887 and then to Venice before heading to Brescia and then being sent again to Venice and all this occurred from 1887 until 1891. He made his final vows as a Jesuit in Venice on August 5, 1888. He preached the Lenten retreats in Venice as well as the Spiritual Exercises.

In 1892, he had to leave due to his frail health and in December of the same year he founded the Suore di Maria Santissima Consolatrice for female religious and received diocesan approval from the Turin archbishop on June 20, 1895. In 1898 he moved the operations of the order to Milan though he was forced out of his order in 1902 after two nuns and a novice spread slanderous accusations against him; the cardinal Andrea Carlo Ferrari advised him that given the circumstances it would be best to leave and attempt something different.

In 1902 he was admitted into the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and was vested in the brown habit on June 21, 1902 in Lovere, which allowed him to begin the novitiate. He made his initial profession on June 25, 1903 and later assumed the religious name of "Arsenio da Trigolo". He moved after his initial profession in 1903 to the Bergamo convent of Borgo Palazzo and dedicated himself to preaching, hearing confessions, and aiding the tertiaries of the Third Order of Saint Francis. He later professed solemn vows on June 25, 1906. He participated in the Spiritual Exercises held in Brescia in June 1903 that was intended for the tertiaries since he ran that particular session.

His already frail health began to decline over a prolonged period of time (including arteriosclerosis) and on November 19, 1909 he sent a letter to the nun Maddalena stating that his one eye was paralysed for a month and he was undergoing treatment for it. On December 10, 1909 he was found dead in his cell from a brain aneurysm, at the Bergamo convent. On December 11, 1909 the Bishop of Bergamo Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi sent a letter to the order to express his sorrow at learning of the friar's death.

In 1940 his remains were exhumed and relocated to Cepino Imagna, and again to the order's motherhouse in Milan in October 1953 in Via Melchiorre Gioia.  His order received the decree of praise from Pope Benedict XV in May 1915 while Pope Pius XII issued full approval on February 22, 1943. It operates in countries such as Burkina Faso and Ecuador and in 2008 there were 397 religious in a total of 56 houses.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenio_da_Trigolo

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Blessed Arsenio may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.