Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno

Francesco Faà di Bruno (7 March 1825 – 25 March 1888) was an Italian priest and advocate of the poor, a leading mathematician of his era and a noted religious musician. In 1988 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. He is the eponym of Faà di Bruno's formula. Faà di Bruno was born in Alessandria, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, on 7 March 1825. He was of noble birth, being the twelfth and youngest child of the Marchese Luigi Faà di Bruno and the Lady Carolina Sappa de' Milanesi. He was raised in a home marked by happiness, the arts and a concern for the poor arising from the parents' strong Catholic faith. As a young man, he entered the Royal Army and held, at one time, the rank of Staff Officer. He resigned from his commission and went to Paris, where he did doctoral studies in mathematics under Augustin Cauchy, and Urbain Le Verrier, who both shared in the discovery of the planet Neptune. He was in close contact with the mathematicians François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno and Charles Hermite. On his return to Turin, he took up the position of Professor of Mathematics at the local university. In recognition of his achievements as a mathematician, the degree of Doctor of Science was conferred on him by the Universities of Paris and Turin. While carrying out his career responsibilities, Faà di Bruno also became actively involved in the social outreach to the poor being developed by leading figures of the Catholic Church in Turin. He became a close friend of John Bosco, and helped establish refuges for the elderly and the poor. He oversaw the construction of a church in Turin, Our Lady of Suffrage. Somewhat late in his life, Faà di Bruno came to feel that pursuing Holy Orders would help him in his religious activities and commenced the necessary studies in theology. What he found, however, was that the Archbishop of Turin at that time would not accept an older man for ordination, Faà di Bruno being in his late 40s at that time.