Saint Francesco Spinelli

Francesco Spinelli (14 April 1853 – 6 February 1913) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Sisters Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament. Spinelli became close contemporaries of Geltrude Comensoli and Luigi Maria Palazzolo and had a previous collaboration with Comensoli in which the two established a religious institute in Bergamo before a rift between members caused Spinelli to distance himself from its work and leave. His beatification cause opened in 1952 under Pope Pius XII with the beatification being celebrated four decades later on 21 June 1992. Pope Francis confirmed Spinelli's canonization which took place on 14 October 2018. Francesco Spinelli was born in Milan on 14 April 1853; he was baptized on the following 15 April. He - with his parents and siblings - moved from Milan to Cremona when he was still a child and would spend his summers at Vergo where in 1871 he was cured of a severe spinal problem. In his childhood he liked to hold puppet shows for fellow children while he visited the poor and ill with his mother on frequent occasions. His call to the religious life was fostered due to the support of his mother and his priest uncle Pietro Cagliaroli. His friend Luigi Maria Palazzolo also encouraged him towards the path of the priesthood which he studied for in Bergamo. He was ordained to the priesthood in Bergamo on 14 August 1875 (which he received from the Bishop Pietro Luigi Speranza) and not long after travelled to Rome to take part in the Jubilee that Pope Pius IX convoked. He also went to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore where he spent brief moments in reflection at the crib of the Infant Jesus. This provided him with the inspiration he needed to found a religious congregation of his own after a vision in which he saw women worshiping Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration.