Lodovico Pavoni
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brescia, Duchy of Milan
Saiano, Brescia, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
Lodovico Pavoni FMI | |
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| Priest | |
| Born | 11 September 1784 Brescia, Duchy of Milan |
| Died | 1 April 1849 (aged 64) Saiano, Brescia, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 14 April 2002, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 16 October 2016, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Francis |
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| Attributes | |
| Patronage |
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Lodovico Pavoni, FMI (11 September 1784 – 1 April 1849) was an Italian Catholic priest who ministered in Brescia.[1] He paid close attention to the needs of boys and was concerned with their education. In 1825, be established the Sons of Mary Immaculate, which came to be known also as the Pavoniani.[2]
Pavoni was beatified on 14 April 2002 and is the patron of his order. The second miracle needed for his sainthood received the official approval of Pope Francis in 2016; his canonization was celebrated in St. Peter's Square on 16 October 2016.[3]
Lodovico Pavoni was born in Brescia on 11 September 1794 as the first of five brothers to Alessandro Pavoni and Lelia Poncarali.[4]
Pavoni was a bright child and took a keen interest in the world around him while responding to the social problems of his time. He was skilled at painting and hunting and was also good at horseback riding.
He received his theological formation at the home of the Dominican Father Carlo Domenico Ferrari – the future Bishop of Brescia – while suffering a stall in his studies due to the Napoleonic era in which the French Emperor closed seminaries. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1807. Pavoni was appointed as an assistant to Bishop Gabrio Nava in 1812 and was named as a church rector on 16 March 1818 – he was assigned to the Church of Saint Barnabas.[1][2][4]
In 1818 he received permission to found an orphanage and a vocational school that in 1821 would transform into the "Institute of Saint Barnabas". He decided that the first trade of this school would be in the field of book publishing and so in 1823 set up "The Publishing House of Saint Barnabas" – the precursor to the present Ancora press.
He opened a center for males and expanded it into a hostel in 1821 for their shelter and to include a school to teach them a particular trade which included programs to instruct them in being carpenters and silversmiths in addition to teaching them how to be blacksmiths shoemakers while focusing also on dye making.[1] He extended this to deaf and mute people in 1823. He also purchased a farm around this time to set up an agricultural section for the school.[1]
Pavoni founded his own congregation of priests and brothers in 1825 known as the Sons of Mary Immaculate, commonly referred to as the "Pavonians". Pope Gregory XVI granted his official assent to the congregation being in Brescia on 31 March 1843 after having received approval from officials in the Roman Curia. The Emperor of Austria provided imperial assent on 9 December 1846. On 8 December 1847 he and the first members of the congregation made their religious profession following diocesan approval and canonical erection from the vice capitular of the diocese of Brescia Mgr. Luchi.[3]
The cholera epidemic in 1836 prompted him to tend to its victims and to take in more men. On 3 June 1844 he was decorated with the title of Knight of the Iron Crown from the Emperor of Austria Ferdinand I.[4]
In 1849 he did his best to assist citizens who were in the middle of a cholera epidemic around the time of the Ten-Days conflict between Austria and Brescia where the latter rebelled against the former. Austrians prepared to pillage Brescia and so Pavoni led the men under his care to the novitiate located on the hill of Saiano.
Pavoni died at dawn on 1 April 1849 in Saiano – Palm Sunday – as the conflict endured and Brescia in flames.[2] The order that he established went on to receive full papal approval from Pope Leo XIII on 24 September 1882 (and its constitutions in 1897) and went on to inspire fellow priests such as Giovanni Bosco and Leonardo Murialdo.
The order that Pavoni established flourished across the globe and numbers 210 members in a total of six nations including Spain and Colombia. As of 2008 there were 34 houses and out of the 210 religious there were 107 of them being priests.[1]
