Blessed Luigi Bordino

Luigi Bordino (12 August 1922 - 25 August 1977), born Andrea Bordino, was a Catholic Religious Brother and a member of the Brothers of Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo. He assumed the name of "Luigi of the Consolata" after he entered that order. He was cleared for beatification after a miracle was found to have been attributed to his intercession and he was beatified on 2 May 2015 in Turin by Cardinal Angelo Amato on behalf of Pope Francis. Bordino was born in 1922 to a family of winemakers. He was the third of four sisters and four brothers. His parents provided for his education and attended kindergarten that Sister Ernestina ran. He didn't excel in his studies but increased his commitment to them. In the summers he and his older brother Risbaldo would assist his father in his work. At the age of eighteen in 1941 he was named as the president of the local branch of Catholic Action. In January 1942, he was drafted at the age of nineteen into the military of the Cuneo Alps. There, Bordino accompanied his comrades into Poland and later into Ukraine where Bordino provided for his fellow soldiers. On 26 January 1943, Bordino and his brother were taken as prisoners by the Soviet Union soldiers. He was to contract typhus, and was later transferred to Siberia, surviving a year of the disease. He was later released from his imprisonment, and allowed to return home. He became a member of the Brothers of Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo and assumed the name of "Luigi of the Consolata". He worked for those hospitalized and also worked with those who had mental illnesses. He contracted leukemia in 1975. After learning this he approached the superior general of the order and stated: "I am sorry because I can no longer do much for the sick, not even for the family of the Brothers; I can no longer help; for everything else, it is the will of God to the end, and I want to do it cheerfully. These are the moments of faith".