Father Joseph Allamano
Father Joseph Allamano,
Founder of the Consolata Missionaries
Maternal nephew of St Joseph Cafasso, he was born in Castelnuovo d'Asti on the 21st of January 1851. He did his first years of primary school at Valdocco under the guidance of Don Bosco. At the age of 22 he was ordained priest in Turin. Immediately following the ordination he was put in charge of other seminarians, under formation. At the age of 29 he was appointed as rector of the biggest Marian shrine in the city of Turin, the one dedicated to Our Lady Consolata. At the same time he was appointed to be in charge of the newly ordained priests of the diocese, who, then resided at the Convitto ecclesiastico. He founded the Institute of Consolata Missionaries on the 29th January 1901 in Turin. The event was then documented in the shrine bulletin as follows: “The devotion to Consolata will not only be contemplative but also active”. Which implied that with the Consolata missions, the marian shrine acquired a universal dimension. On the 8th of May 1902 he bade farewell to the first four missionaries who left Torino for Kenya. The first group consisted of two priests and two brothers. In the year 1910 Joseph Allamano founded the congregation of the Consolata Sisters. He died in Turin on the 16th February 1926. His remains are currently conserved within the church of Blessed Joseph Allamano, adjacent to the motherhouse of the Consolata Missionaries in Torino.
