From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 3rd - St. Luigi Scrosoppi   
      
   Luigi Scrosoppi was born on the 4th of August 1804 in Udine,a city in the   
   region   
   of Friuli in the north of Italy. He grew up in a family atmosphere of faith   
   and   
   Christian charity. At twelve years of age he began preparing for the   
   priesthood   
   at the Udine diocesan seminary, and was ordained in 1827. At his side were   
   his   
   two brothers Charles and John Baptist, both of them also priests.   
      
   The wretchedly poor conditions during the 1800s in a Friuli devastated by   
   famine, wars and pestilence were for Luigi an invitation to care for those   
   most   
   in need. With other priests and a group of young teachers he dedicated   
   himself   
   to gathering together and educating poor and abandoned girls from Udine and   
   the   
   surrounding countryside. To them he devoted all his material possessions,   
   his   
   energies and his affection. He did not spare himself, and when the situation   
   called for it he went around begging; he relied on people's help, and above   
   all,   
   trusted in the Lord. In fact his whole life bears witness to his great trust   
   in   
   Divine Providence. Regarding the works of charity in which he was engaged,   
   he   
   wrote: "The providence of God, who prepares minds and hearts to undertake   
   His   
   works, was alone the foundation of this Institute... that loving tender   
   Providence that never deserts those who trust in Him". He lost no   
   opportunity in   
   fostering this confidence in the girls he gathered together and in the young   
   women devoted to their education. They came to be called "school mistresses"   
   because they were skilled in sewing and embroidery but were also able to   
   teach   
   "reading, writing and arithmetic" as they used to say. They were women of   
   different ages and backgrounds, and in each of them there matured the   
   decision   
   to place their lives in the hands of the Lord and to consecrate themselves   
   to   
   Him, serving Him in the family of the "outcast". On the evening of the 1st   
   of   
   February 1837, as a sign of their definitive decision, nine women put aside   
   their possessions and chose to live their total dedication to Him in   
   poverty. In   
   this simple manner the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence, the   
   religious   
   family founded by Father Luigi, came into being. Others came to join the   
   first   
   group. Some were rich, others poor, some educated, others illiterate, some   
   from   
   the nobility, others of humble origins. In the house of Providence there was   
   room for all and all become sisters.   
      
   The founder encouraged them to make sacrifices and urged them to take   
   affectionate care of the girls, whom they were to regard as the "apple of   
   their   
   eyes". He said to them: "More than anything else, these daughters of the   
   poor   
   need to be educated in affection and to learn all that is necessary to live   
   an   
   honest life". And once again: "The weariness, persevering effort, constant   
   work   
   and the tiresome attention needed to assist and teach them should not cause   
   you   
   discouragement because you know you are doing all this for Jesus".   
      
   In the meantime, Luigi was reflecting on the need to make a more total   
   consecration to the Lord. He was attracted by the ideal of poverty and   
   universal   
   brotherhood of St Francis of Assisi, but the events of his own life and of   
   history led him to follow in the footsteps of St Philip Neri, the singer of   
   joy   
   and freedom, the saint of prayer, humility and pastoral charity. Luigi   
   followed   
   his "Oratorian" vocation in 1846, and at the mature age of 42 he became a   
   son of   
   St Philip. From him he learned that meekness and tenderhearted spirit which   
   would make him ever more suited to the task of founder and father of the   
   Congregation of the Sisters of Providence.   
      
   Showing great regard and concern for the human development of the Sisters   
   and   
   their growth in holiness, he spared neither help, nor advice nor   
   encouragement.   
   He carefully watched over their vocation, putting their faith to the test so   
   that they might grow strong. He condemned vanity, the desire to be noticed,   
   and   
   could be severe when he saw attitudes of hypocrisy and superficiality. Yet   
   what   
   paternal tenderness he showed in the face of frailty and the need to be   
   understood, supported and consoled!   
      
   Gradually Father Luigi took on the fundamental traits of a spiritual life   
   centred on Jesus Christ, loved and imitated in the humility and poverty of   
   his   
   incarnation in Bethlehem, in the simplicity of his working life at Nazareth,   
   in   
   his total immolation on the cross on Calvary, and in the silence of the   
   Eucharist. And since Jesus had said: "Whatever you did to one of the least   
   of   
   these my brethren you did it to me", it is to them that every day Father   
   Luigi   
   devoted his life with the practical commitment to "seek first the kingdom of   
   God   
   and his justice" convinced that all the rest will be given according to the   
   gospel promise.   
      
   All the works he set in motion during his life reflect this preferential   
   option   
   for the poorest, the lowliest, the abandoned. "I shall open twelve houses" -   
   he   
   prophesied - "before I die" and so it was. Twelve houses in which the   
   Sisters of   
   Providence devote themselves to a service that is humble, enterprising and   
   joyful on behalf of young girls left helpless, of the poor, the sick and   
   neglected, of the elderly left alone.   
      
   At the same time, however, deeply committed to doing good, Father Luigi did   
   not   
   limit himself to his own works, in which the Sisters collaborated with   
   generous   
   people ever ready to give them a helping hand. He willingly gave his   
   spiritual   
   and material assistance to other initiatives undertaken in Udine by people   
   of   
   good will. He supported all the activities of the Church and showed   
   particular   
   concern for the young men in the Udine seminary, especially the poorest of   
   them.   
      
   In the second half of the nineteenth century, the different regions of Italy   
   were being united. The political and military aspects of this unification   
   resulted in a particularly difficult period for Udine and the whole of   
   Friuli,   
   which is on the frontier and at the cross roads between the north and south   
   of   
   Europe and between east and west. One of the consequences of the   
   unification,   
   which unfortunately took place in a climate of anticlericalism, was a decree   
   suppressing the "House of the Orphans" and the Congregation of the Oratorian   
   Fathers in Udine.   
      
   Father Luigi thus began a difficult struggle to save his work on behalf of   
   the   
   orphans. In this he succeeded, but he could do nothing to prevent the   
   suppression of the Congregation of the Oratory. The unhappy political   
   situation   
   led to the destruction of the material structures of the Congregation of the   
   Oratory in Udine but it did not succeed in preventing Father Luigi from   
   remaining to the end a faithful disciple of St Philip.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)