He was deeply respectful of the faiths and cultures he lived among. During his 13 years in the Saraha, he learned about Tuareg culture and language, compiling a Tuareg-French dictionary, and being a “brother” to the people.
The French-born Priest said he wanted to “shout the Gospel with his life” and to conduct himself so that people would ask, “If such is the servant, what must the Master be like?”
De Foucauld was the inspiration for the founding of several lay associations, religious communities, and secular institutes of Laity and Priests, known collectively as “the spiritual family of Charles de Foucauld.”
Pope Benedict XVI declared him a blessed in 2005, and Pope Francis canonized him on 15 May 2022.
St. Joseph Allamano
(Story continues below)
Born in 1851 in Italy, Allamano attended the Oratory of John Bosco in Valdocco from 1861 to 1866, when he started his studies to the Priesthood in Turin.
On 20 September 1873, he was ordained a Diocesan Priest for Italy’s Catholic Archdiocese of Turin, where he remained his entire life. After his Priestly Ordination, he was assigned to the Seminary, first as an assistant and then as spiritual director.
Later, he was appointed as Rector of the Consolata Shrine, which he would transform into a source of spiritual renewal for the people of God.
St. Allamano founded the Institute of the Consolata Missionaries (IMC) and the Consolata Missionary Sisters (MC).
Beginning in the East African nation of Kenya and later in Ethiopia, Brazil, Taiwan and Mongolia, IMC and MC members who are currently serving in some 40 countries across the globe have carried on the legacy of their founder, whom Pope St. John Paul II beatified on 7 October 1990.
The Italian-born Saint, who died on 16 February 1926 aged 75 had been telling IMC and MC members he founded in northern Italy in 1901 that they needed to be “first saints, then missionaries.”
“As missionaries then, you must not only be holy, but extraordinarily holy. All the other gifts are not enough to make a missionary! It takes holiness, great holiness,” he said.
St. Allamano set the example by “combining the commitment to holiness with attention to the spiritual and social needs of his time,” Pope John Paul II said at his beatification, adding that Allamano “had a deep conviction that ‘the Priest is first and foremost a man of charity,’ ‘destined to do the greatest possible good,’ to sanctify others ‘with example and word,’ with holiness and knowledge.”
He was deeply influenced by the spirituality of the Salesians and St. Don Bosco, who served as his spiritual director, as well as the witness of his saintly uncle, St. Joseph Cafasso.
St. Allamano was canonized after the Vatican recognized the recovery of Sorino Yanomami in a unique medical miracle attributed to his intercession, which Sr. Felicita Muthoni Nyaga, a Kenyan-born MC member, has recounted.
Sr. Felicita has recounted how all quiet at Catrimatini mission dispensary in the heart of the Northwestern Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, where she served, was disrupted when a Jaguar attacked the village, mauling Sorino and leaving him with no possibility of recovering.
She recounted her experience at the 9 November 2024 thanksgiving Mass at the University of Nairobi (UoN) Grounds following the canonization of Blessed Joseph Allamano alongside 13 others at Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square, on 20 October 2024, the World Mission Sunday 2024.
Sr. Felicita recalled the events of the morning of 7 February 1996 that would later lead to a miraculous healing at the heart of the jungle that is located between Brazil and Venezuela, paving the way for the canonization of the IMC and MC founder.
Fifteen Consolata missionaries are Bishops today, mostly in Africa and South America. St. Joseph Allamano has been described as “a Diocesan Priest with a passion for the missionary work of the Church.”
Here list a Saints canonized by Pope Francis during his 12-year pontificate:
12 May 2013
Antonio Primaldo & 812 Companions; Laura Montoya Upegui; and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala
27 April 2014
Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II
23 November 2014
Kuriakose Elias Chavara; Nicola Saggio; Euphrasia Eluvathingal; Giovanni Antonio Farina; Ludovico of Casoria; and Amato Ronconi
17 May 2015
Émilie de Villeneuve; Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception; Mariam Baouardy; and Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas
18 October 2015
Louis Martin; Marie-Azélie Guérin Martin; Vincenzo Grossi; María de la Purísima Salvat Romero
5 June 2016
Stanisław Papczyński and Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad
4 September 2016
Teresa of Calcutta
16 October 2016
José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero; José Sánchez del Río; Manuel González García; Elizabeth of the Trinity; Alfonso Maria Fusco; Lodovico Pavoni; and Salomone Leclercq
15 October 2017
Manuel Míguez González; Luca Antonio Falcone; André de Soveral & 29 Companions; and Cristobal & 2 Companions
14 October 2018
Pope Paul VI; Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez; Francesco Spinelli; Vincenzo Romano; Maria Katharina Kasper; Ignacia Nazaria March Mesa; and Nunzio Sulprizio
13 October 2019
John Henry Newman; Giuseppina Vannini; Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan; Dulce Lopes Pontes; and Marguerite Bays
15 May 2022
Titus Brandsma; Devasahayam Pillai; César de Bus; Luigi Maria Palazzolo; Giustino Russolillo; Charles de Foucauld; Anne-Marie Rivier; Maria Francesca Rubatto; Carolina Santocanale; and Maria Domenica Mantovani
9 October 2022
Giovanni Battista Scalabrini and Artémides Zatti
11 February 2024
María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa
20 October 2024
Manuel Ruiz López & 10 Companions; Giuseppe Allamano; Marie-Léonie Paradis; and Elena Guerra
Canonizations held outside of Rome
14 January 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Joseph Vaz
23 September 2015, Washington, D.C., United States
Junípero Serra
13 May 2017, Fátima, Portugal
Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto
Equipollent Canonizations
9 October 2013
Angela of Foligno
17 December 2013
Peter Faber
3 April 2014
José de Anchieta; Marie of the Incarnation; and François de Laval
5 July 2019
Bartolomeu Fernandes dos Mártires
24 April 2021
Margherita della Metola
18 December 2024
Thérèse of Saint Augustine & 15 Companion
Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.
