Today, March 12, the liturgy celebrates many saints and blessed, including St. Louis Orione, Innocent I, the martyrs Joseph Zhang and St. Maximilian, and the Polish Angela Salawa.
St. Luigi Orione, an Italian priest, was born in June 1872 into a family of humble workers. From an early age he knew the povertywhich I would have you sayCharity and only charity will save the world". While still a seminarian, he began his evangelical social work by creating educational institutes for marginalized youth, and then homes for people with disabilities.
He founded schools, institutions and congregations. Institutions among which we can mention the Little Work of Divine Providence, dedicated to charity and today spread over twenty countries, and the well-known Small Cottolengos for disabled and abandoned, on the outskirts of large cities. He died in San Remo in 1940 and was canonized by St. John Paul II in 2004.
Pope, Chinese martyr, Polish domestic worker
St. Innocent I was Pope from 401 to 417. Ruled the Church in difficult circumstances. He condemned the heresy of PelagiusHe wrote letters to bishops to strengthen faith and discipline. Faced with the invasion of the Goths, he tried to save Rome, but Alaric sacked it in 410. He wrote letters to bishops to strengthen the faith and discipline. He defended St. John Chrysostom when he was deposed and banished. He died in 417.
The Chinese martyr Saint Joseph Zhang or Tshang Dapeng went through Buddhism and Taoism until he came to Christianity. He was newly baptized in 1800, opened his home He helped missionaries and catechists, and helped the poor, the sick and children until, condemned to be crucified, he rejoiced with emotion for having been considered worthy to die for Christ (1815).
Blessed Angela Salawa, born in Siepraw (Krakow, Poland, 1981) in 1881, the eleventh of 12 children, from a family of poor. She was a domestic servant from the age of 16 years in KrakowShe chose to be celibate, working in domestic service. She prayed and participated with faith in the Eucharist and the Stations of the Cross, and venerated the Mother of God. In 1912 she professed in the Secular Franciscan Order. She died in the hospital of St. Zita in Krakow in 1922 and was beatified by St. John Paul II in 1991.
