Important Events of Conforti's Life

Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries

March 30, 1865 - Guido Maria Conforti was born at Casalora di Ravadese (Parma), Italy.

1872-1876 - While attending elementary school in Parma he had his first prayer conversations with Christ crucified . He used to recall: "He gave me my vocation" and "it seemed like he told me many things."

1879-1881 - After reading the life of St. Francis Xavier he adopted him as a model.

September 22, 1888 - He was ordained a priest.

December 3, 1895 - He began, in Emilia, his "Seminary for the Foreign Mission."

December 3, 1898 - His seminary, in Emilia, was officially recognized as the "St. Francis Congregation for the Foreign Missions."

March 3, 1899 - In the Mission Seminary Chapel he bid farewell to the first Xaverians leaving for China, Caio Rastelli and Odoardo Manini.

June 11, 1902 - In St. Paul's Basilica in Rome, Monsignor Conforti definitively consecrated himself to mission by professing religioius vows. He was then consecrated bishop of the Archdiocese of Ravenna.

December 12, 1907 - He became bishop of Parma.

April 21, 1912 - In the Cathedral of Parma he consecrated Mons. Luigi Calza first Xaverian Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Cheng-chow (China).

August 15, 1921 - He finished writing his "Testament Letter" with which he presented the Xaverian Constitutions, definitively approved by Rome, to the members.

September-December 1928 - Notwithstanding his illness and age, he visited his missionaries in China.

November 5, 1931 - Guido Maria Conforti died a saintly death in Parma.

On March 17, 1996 Guido Maria Conforti was declared BLESSED  by Pope John Paul II 

The Crucifix Encounter
"The Source of my Vocation"

God revealed the fullness of his love in his Crucified Son. One day this love touched the hart of young Guido Conforti in an almost natural way. He was but a child. Every morning, he stopped at the “Church of Peace” to gaze at the the large Crucifix there.

This was the beginning of an uninterrupted dialogue with Christ crucified.  Later when he was sixty years old and bishop, his sister often found him rapt in ecstasy before that crucifix, which had been brought to his residence, at his request. Was it that dialogue with the Crucified Lord that sparked the idea to found a missionary congregation?