Blessed Giovanni Schiavo

Giovanni Schiavo, CSI (8 July 1903 – 27 January 1967) was an Italian Catholic priest in the Congregation of Saint Joseph, also known as the Murialdines. Schiavo entered the Murialdines during World War I in 1917, and was admitted by Eugenio Reffo. He was ordained to the priesthood in Vicenza in 1927. His superiors allowed him to join the missions – and to spread the charism of the Murialdines – in Brazil, where he served from 1931 until his death several decades later. His beatification process began under Pope John Paul II in Brazil on 28 April 2001, when he was given the title of Servant of God, and the confirmation of his life of heroic virtue allowed Pope Francis to declare him a Venerable on 14 December 2015. Francis approved a miracle to him on 1 December 2016. Schiavo was beatified in celebration held in Caxias do Sul, with Cardinal Angelo Amato presiding on 28 October 2017. Giovanni Schiavo was born in Montecchio Maggiore – in Vicenza – as the first of nine children to the poor but pious parents, Luigi Schiavo and Rosa Fittorelli. He suffered from meningitis for four years, which almost killed him. At age eighteen, he received an offer to work in the local council but turned this offer down; he had already decided to enter religious life. He sought the aid of the parish priest, Giuseppe Dalla Pria, who encouraged him and aided him on his path to realizing his religious vocation. Schiavo's strong call towards religious life led him to decide to become a priest. He was educated by members of the Congregation of Saint Joseph, who had such an impact on the seminarian that he developed an intense devotion to Saint Joseph and requested to be admitted into that order. One of the founders of that order, Eugenio Reffo, welcomed him into the order in 1917. Schiavo his novitiate in Volvera. He made his first profession on 28 August 1919 and made his final vows in 1925. He began his philosophical and theological studies for the priesthood in 1919.