LIFE OF VEN. FR.

JOSEPH FRASSINETTI
(BRIEF VERSION)

Ven. Fr. Joseph Frassinetti, founder of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate, was born in Genoa, Italy, on December 15, 1804. His three brothers were ordained priests. His sister, St. Paola Frassinetti, became the foundress of the Dorothy Sisters and on March 11, 1984, was proclaimed a saint by John Paul II. When Joseph was six years old, following the tradition of the people of Genoa, his parents brought him to the shrine of La Madonnetta to consecrate his life to the Virgin Mary. As a sign of his consecration, Joseph offered a silver heart to the Blessed Mother. On September 22, 1827, after completing his studies at the diocesan seminary of Genoa, Joseph was ordained priest. Immediately he practiced his priestly ministry with zeal, especially among the youth, the sick people and the prisoners. After his first assignment for 5 years as parish priest of St. Peter Parish in Quinto, he was promoted to the church of Santa Sabina in Genoa, where he remained till the end of his life. Aside from being extremely zealous in his parish ministry, Fr. Frassinetti also founded associations for teaching catechism, for the education of the youth, and especially for the spiritual and cultural formation of seminarians and priests. Not a single minute of his life was idle. He wrote over 80 books on spiritual, pastoral, and moral matters -many became bestsellers and were translated in many languages- and worked assiduously for the defense of the Catholic faith from the attacks of the Protestants. Because of his fidelity to the Pope, he went into exile for two years. In 1861, Fr. Frassinetti instituted in his parish rectory the "Pious Union of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate," whose members were lay men consecrated to the Lord but living and working in the world. Their chief apostolate was supporting vocations for the priesthood in their spiritual and material needs. Little by little, a small community of young applicants started in the rectory a family-like community under the guidance of the venerable parish priest. In 1868, Fr. Frassinetti died and Fr. Antonio Piccardo took over the direction of the Pious Union. For over 40 years, hundreds of diocesan priests received their formation and material support from that small community. In 1904, Pope St. Pius X gave the Pontifical approval to the Congregation of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate, whose charism was the caring for vocation, the educating of the youth, and the pastoral work. On May 14, 1991, the Congregation for the Saints recognized the heroic virtues of Fr. Joseph Frassinetti. Thereafter, Frassinetti should no longer be addressed as Servant of God but as Venerable. We pray that two miracles be attributed to his intercession, so that he might become Blessed and eventually Saint.