Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/June 23 2007

Giuseppe Cafasso (January 15, 1811 – June 23, 1860) was a significant social reformer in early nineteenth-century Turin, born in Castelnuovo d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy.

He was one of the so-called ‘Social Saints’ of nineteenth-century Turin. The ‘Social Saints’ of Turin, at time of writing, are taken to be Giuseppe Benedict Cottolengo, John Bosco, Maria Domenica Mazzarello, and Leonardo Murialdo. If the movement for her beatification proves successful Giulia di Barolo, who focused particularly on women prisoners, may come to be added to their number. They took it as their job to minister to the dispossessed, marginalised and often criminal elements of a city in the throes of industrialisation. He was the apostle of prisons and the comforter of those condemned to the death penalty, and was called the gallows priest for this.

A monument has been erected to his memory in Turin at the road crossing of Corso Regina Margherita, Corso Principe Eugenio and Corso Valdocco (called the Rondò della Forca, or the Gallows Roundabout).
Attributes:Minister
Patronage:prison chaplains, captives, imprisoned people and prisoners
Prayer: