February 25 — Luigi Versiglia and Callisto Caravario are both Salesians of Don Bosco as one of China's 120 martyrs.
Luigi Versiglia
Luigi Versiglia was born on June 05, 1873, in Oliva Gessi in Lombardy. Salesian bishop and missionary in China at the beginning of the 20th century. He is 12 years old when Don Bosco sent him in Turin to continue his study. He entered the Salesians and studied philosophy at the Gregorian University of Rome. Louis Versiglia was ordained priest on November 21, 1885, and became director and master of novices in Genzano di Roma for nine years.
On January 07, 1906, he was part of the first missionary expedition of the Salesians in China. He arrived in Macau and on January 9, 1921, he was consecrated bishop to lead the apostolic vicariate of Shiu Chow (Chaozhou), 221 km north of Canton. There he organized catechesis, opened schools and instituted several seminaries, despite the difficulties and hostility of part of the population.
At the end of January 1930, he decided to go on a pastoral visit to Lin Chow (Lianzhou), together with another Salesian priest, Father Callisto Caravario, and three young girls whom they accompanied to their family. They took the train on February 24 and continued by boat. After a stopover at Ling Kong How, they set out again, and then encountered a band of pirates. The two missionaries intervene to protect the lives of the young girls whose lives the pirates wanted to take, and they are massacred with rifles.
Callisto Caravario
Father Callisto Caravario, also a Salesian, was born on June 8, 1903, in Turin. He entered in the Salesians in August 1918 and pronounced his religious vows there on September 19, 1919. He met bishop Mgr Luigi Versiglia in 1922 and told him of his desire to go on a mission with him to China. On January 16,1925 Callisto Caravario arrived in China after 2 years of mission in Timore Island. Arrived in Shangai, Mgr Versiglia ordained him on May 8, 1929. He was entrusted with the evangelization of the Lin Chow region. In 1930, accompanying his bishop, Mgr Versiglia on a pastoral visit, the two missionaries were shot down by pirates.
