18 Facts About Marcantonio Durando

Marcantonio Durando was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Congregation of the Mission in an effort to follow the teachings of Vincent de Paul - an ardent focus of his life and pastoral career.

Marcantonio Durando's mother was religious and instilled faith in her children while his father possessed liberal ideas and was of agnostic tendencies.

Marcantonio Durando had as brothers Giacomo - the foreign affairs minister of the 1862 Rattazzi Government - and Giovanni - a papal soldier and general who refused the orders of Pope Pius IX in 1848 and moved his soldiers past the Po River to defect.

Marcantonio Durando made his perpetual vows as a member of the Congregation of the Mission in 1818 after completing his philosophical studies and having had received the tonsure and the minor orders.

Marcantonio Durando's studies were suspended in 1822 due to the ill health he faced and the death of his mother.

Marcantonio Durando was ordained to the priesthood on 12 June 1824.

Marcantonio Durando's superiors refused to send him to the missions despite his requests.

Marcantonio Durando remained in Casale Monferrato until 1829 when he relocated to Turin.

Marcantonio Durando remained in Turin until his death and was made superior of the Turin branch of the congregation in 1831.

Marcantonio Durando re-established the Ladies of Charity in 1835 for the noblewomen of Turin.

Marcantonio Durando supported the new work of the Propagation of the Faith - created in France in 1822 that Pauline-Marie Jaricot founded - and in 1855 instituted the Brignole-Sale school for those wanting to join the foreign missions in which he oversaw the formation of priests who applied for missions.

Marcantonio Durando became a spiritual guide for the Poor Clares.

Marcantonio Durando tried in his mission as a priest to oppose the rigors of Jansenism that plagued the times.

Marcantonio Durando saw the usefulness in introducing the Vincentian Sisters from France to the Italian peninsula and so petitioned King Carlo Alberto to welcome them; the king did so in 1833 and the sisters assumed charge of hospitals with an emphasis on those with soldiers in places such as Genoa and Turin.

Around this time the bishop Giustino de Jacobis invited Marcantonio Durando to serve with him in Ethiopia but the latter refused for his obligations tied him to Turin.

Marcantonio Durando spread the message of the Miraculous Medal of Catherine Laboure and to that effect established the Children of Mary in 1856.

Marcantonio Durando wrote a long letter again to his brother in 1870 to explain his puzzlement at the hostile situation that saw the loss of the Papal States.

Marcantonio Durando's order begged for their founder's intercession and Ingiani awoke from her coma to a rapid cure.