The Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries

Important Events of the Life of Bishop Conforti

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I looked at him, and he looked at me, and it seemed as though he was telling me many things

The Crucifix Encounter:
The Source of My Vocation

God revealed the fullness of his love in his Crucified Son. One day this love touched the hart of young Guido Conforti in an almost natural way. He was but a child. Every morning, he stopped at the “Church of Peace” to gaze at the the large Crucifix there.

This was the beginning of an uninterrupted dialogue with Christ crucified. Later when he was sixty years old and bishop, his sister often found him rapt in ecstasy before that crucifix, which had been brought to his residence, at his request. Was it that dialogue with the Crucified Lord that sparked the idea to found a missionary congregation?

Brief Life

• March 30, 1865 - Guido Maria Conforti is born at Casalora di Ravadese (Parma), Italy.
• 1872-1876 - While attending elementary school in Parma he has his first prayer conversations with Christ crucified. He used to recall: "He gave me my vocation" and "it seemed like he told me many things."
• 1879-1881 - After reading the life of St. Francis Xavier he adopts him as a model.
• September 22, 1888 - He is ordained priest.
• December 3, 1895 - He begins, in Emilia, his "Seminary for the Foreign Missions."
• December 3, 1898 - His seminary, in Emilia, is officially recognized as the "St. Francis Congregation for the Foreign Missions."
• March 3, 1899 - In the Mission Seminary Chapel he bids farewell to the first Xaverians leaving for China, Caio Rastelli and Odoardo Manini.
• June 11, 1902 - In St. Paul's Basilica in Rome, Monsignor Conforti definitively consecrates himself to mission by professing religious vows. He is then consecrated bishop of the Archdiocese of Ravenna.
• December 12, 1907 - He becomes bishop of Parma.
• April 21, 1912 - In the Cathedral of Parma he consecrates Mons. Luigi Calza first Xaverian Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Cheng-chow (China).
• August 15, 1921 - He finishes writing his "Testament Letter" with which he presents the Xaverian Constitutions to the Xaverian members, approved by Rome.
• September-December 1928 - Notwithstanding his illness and age, he visits his missionaries in China.
• November 5, 1931 - Guido Maria Conforti dies a saintly death in Parma.
• On March 17, 1996 Guido Maria Conforti is declared BLESSED by Pope John Paul II
• October 23, 2011 - Guido Maria Conforti is proclaimed SAINT by Pope Benedict XVI.
  

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