Blessed Giovanni Maria Boccardo

Giovanni Maria Boccardo (20 November 1848 - 30 December 1913) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Poor Daughters of Saint Cajetan. Boccardo tended to victims of a cholera epidemic in 1884 and was forced to resign all positions in his parish in 1911 due to illness that confined him to his bed. He was the elder brother of Blessed Luigi Boccardo. He was beatified in 1998 on the occasion of the pastoral visit of Pope John Paul II to Turin. Giovanni Maria Boccardo was born on 20 November 1848 in Turin as the eldest of ten children born to Gaspare Boccardo and Giuseppina Malebra; he was baptized on 21 November. Three brothers - including Luigi Boccardo - became priests and another three died as infants. His siblings included his sister Giacinta and brothers Albino and Giovanni Ottavio. Boccardo was generous to the plight of the poor as a child and adolescent and on one occasion cared for a blind beggar. He studied with the Barnabites in 1861 and graduated from their school in 1864; he commenced his studies for the priesthood the following 8 September. Monsignor Balma ordained Boccardo to the priesthood on 3 June 1871. He desired the religious life but was instead assigned to teaching in Turin while he became the spiritual director of Chieri seminarians in 1873; he also served in that same position in Turin. During this time he befriended John Bosco as well as Leonardo Murialdo and Giuseppe Allamano. He received a doctorate in his theological studies on 1 February 1877. Boccardo was named as a canon of the Church of Santa Maria della Scala in Chieri and in 1882 was made the pastor of Moncalieri - he would remain there until his death. He devoted himself to proper parish catechism and made it an objective to visit the prisons of Saluzzo to provide spiritual comfort to prisoners. His private writings on spiritual matters runs to a total of 44 volumes. He was present for his brother Luigi's first Mass as a priest on 8 June 1884.