Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo was born near Turin Italy in 1786 to middle-class parents. He was the eldest of 12 children, 6 of which survived childhood. He was 1 of 3 to become a priest.

In his youth he was drawn to religion but had difficulties in study. He prayed to St. Thomas Aquinas for the ability to pass his exams and not only did he become a priest in 1811 but also received his Doctorate in Theology.

Because of the Napoleonic invasions and refugees heading to Turin, it became a city riddled with poverty, illiteracy, epidemics and crime. Joseph witnessed these issues and even with all that he was doing, he felt God asking him for more.

After reading about St Vincent de Paul, he found his answer in charity after aiding a pregnant French woman and her family who had been rejected by the local hospitals. He felt helpless as he gave her last rites and baptized her prematurely born baby before it died as well.

It was traumatic for him and he prayed fervently at Our Lady’s altar. He received his answer and with joy he rang all of the bells at church and lit all of the candles at her altar. He then sold everything he owned and opened a small house where anybody could receive medical care.

He gathered others to help including doctors and pharmacists along with women who eventually became Sisters. They refused no one regardless of condition or stature.

When a cholera epidemic hit, health authorities demanded he close his house. Undaunted, he gathered his belongings and started a new enterprise with more spacious ground in Valdocco and called it the Little House of Divine Providence (where the Sisters came from who became missionaries of Kenya). Just like a mustard seed, it had small beginnings but grew in a “City of Charity”. In addition, he also started 14 religious congregations and was dubbed the “Italian Vincent de Paul.”

While caring for the sick, he contracted typhus and died in 1842. “When I am in Heaven, where everything is possible, I will cling to the mantle of the Mother of God and I will not turn my eyes from you.” – his last words.

His feast day is April 30.

For God’s Glory.

Cottolenga Center In Kenya:

Little House of Divine Providence: