Venerable Francesco Fasola

Francesco Fasola (23 February 1898 – 1 July 1988) was an Italian member of the Congregatio Oblatorum Sanctorum Gaudentii et Caroli Novariae who served as the Archbishop of Messina from 1963 until his retirement in 1977. He served as a rector and parish priest after his ordination in Galliante before he was made a bishop in 1954 for the Agrigento diocese where he served as the coadjutor; he later was moved south to Caltagirone and then was made an archbishop. Fasola placed a particular emphasis during his episcopate on the renovation of ecclesial buildings and the ordination of new priests which was a sacrament he liked to bestow upon seminarians. In 2005 the cause for the late archbishop launched in Messina and he became titled as a Servant of God. Francesco Fasola was born in Maggiora in Novara on 23 February 1898 and was baptized the following morning in the Spirito Santo parish. The fragile economic condition at the time forced his father to emigrate to the United States of America where he remained for a decade. He commenced his ecclesial studies on the Isola San Giulio in Lake Orta and then in Arona. Giuseppe Gamba elevated him to the diaconate on 26 May 1921 in Novara and then in the chapel of the Novara episcopal residence ordained him to the priesthood on 26 June. Fasola's spiritual director throughout the course of his studies was the Venerable Silvio Gallotti. He was sent to Galliante after his ordination to commence his pastoral duties while later in 1929 he became the vicar for the San Giuseppe church in Novara. In 1942 he became the rector for Sacro Monte di Varallo and later in 1946 became the pro-vicar general for the Novara diocese.