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ST. JOHN BAPTIST SCALABRINI was born and baptized on July 8, 1839, in Fino Mornasco (Como, Italy). He was the third child (out of eight) of Luigi Scalabrini and Colomba Trombetta. He entered the diocesan seminary, where he studied philosophy and theology. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 30,
1863. During his first years of the priesthood, he was a professor and then rector of the seminary of San Abundio. In 1870 he was appointed pastor of St. Bartholomew parish church.
He was appointed bishop of Piacenza by Pope Pius IX in 1876. He heroically practiced charity, visiting the sick and the imprisoned and helping the poor and distressed families. He founded an institute for the deaf and mute, mutual aid societies, workers' associations, rural banks, and cooperatives. He promoted many other initiatives in favor of the poor and the socially marginalized of his time. In 1887 he founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles (Scalabrinians) to provide religious, moral, social, and legal assistance to emigrants. In 1895, with the collaboration of siblings Venerable Giuseppe Marchetti and Blessed Assunta Marchetti, he founded the congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinian sisters) to help children, orphans, and sick migrants.
This novena is a translation and adaptation of the novena made by the Scalabrinian Pastoral Center for migration of the St. John the Baptist Province of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles - Scalabrinians. Editor Responsible for the original version: Fr. José Juan Cervantes, cs
Compiled from: *Novena to Blessed John Baptist Scalabarini: Following the Example of His Virtues *Novena for the Celebration of the Beatification of Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrini Padre dei Migrante (1997) *Novena al Beato Juan Bautista Scalabrini.
May this novena help us to reflect on St. Scalabrini' life and work, and to ask for his intercession in our own lives.