1825-1888
Feast Day
March 27
This aristocratic Piedmontese Italian abandoned a military career for mathematics. Following studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, he began teaching at Italy’s University of Turin and doing charitable work among domestic servants, female apprentices and unmarried mothers. At the urging of St. John Bosco and despite episcopal opposition, Francesco was ordained a priest at age 51. In 1881 he founded a religious order to carry on his work, especially among young women, and continued to lecture at the university until his death. He was beatified in 1988.