Blessed Marcantonio Durando

Marcantonio (Mark Anthony) Durando (22 May 1801 – 10 December 1880) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Congregation of the Mission in an effort to follow the teachings of Vincent de Paul – an ardent focus of his life and pastoral career. Durano was also the founder of the Daughters of the Passion of Jesus the Nazorean (1865) – or Nazarene Sisters – and founded that order with the assistance of Luigia Borgiotti (1802-1873). Durando was made a Servant of God on 23 March 1941 under Pope Pius XII once the beatification process started and Pope John Paul II both declared him as Venerable on 1 July 2000 and beatified him on 20 October 2002. Marcantonio Durando was born in 1801 in Mondovì as one of ten children to Angela Vinaj (d. 1822); two siblings died as infants. The home overlooked the main square and near the Mondovì Cathedral. He was baptized in 1801. Durando's mother was religious and instilled faith in her children while his father possessed liberal ideas and was of agnostic tendencies. Durando had as brothers Giacomo (4 February 1807 – 21 August 1894) – the foreign affairs minister of the 1862 Rattazzi Government – and Giovanni (23 June 1804 – 27 May 1869) – a papal soldier and general who refused the orders of Pope Pius IX in 1848 and moved his soldiers past the Po River to defect. His brothers were therefore involved in the Risorgimento. In 1841 he commenced his studies for the priesthood in Mondovì. In 1816 he desired to join the missions in China. Durando made his perpetual vows as a member of the Congregation of the Mission in 1818 after completing his philosophical studies and having had received the tonsure and the minor orders. After his time in the novitiate he was sent to resume his theological studies in Sarzana.