23 June - Joseph Cafasso was born in 1811 in Castelnuovo d'Asti, in Piedmont, then annexed to France. He is the third of the four children of Jean Cafasso and Orsola Beltramo. His younger sister is Marianna, Joseph Allamano's future mother. Suffering from a malformation of the spine, he is small in stature, and remains crippled all his life.
Feeling very early the call to priestly life, he was ordained priest in 1833. At the same time, he was professor of moral theology in Turin from 1836. His pupil is the young Don Bosco whom he knew when he was only 12 years old.
Appointed parish priest of the parish of Saint-François in 1848, Joseph Cafasso became a renowned confessor, very attached to the veneration of the Blessed Sacrament. A disciple of Saint Francis de Sales, he strongly encouraged his flock, and also helped priests in their ministry. Pope Pius XII said at the time of his canonization that the mission entrusted to him by Providence was to instruct the clergy, to confirm them in the integrity of the Gospel doctrine, and to encourage them to the perfection proper to their state.
He also exercises many ministries, particularly with the prisoners he visits and the convicts he assists until their last hour. He is nicknamed the chaplain of the gallows and is currently the patron saint of prison chaplains. He gives absolution to those condemned to death, and since they are executed immediately afterwards, Joseph speaks of them as hanged saints. He works all his life to improve prison conditions.
On 23 June 1860, Joseph Cafasso died of pneumonia in Turin. It was Don Bosco who gave the homily for the funeral Mass.
Beatified in 1925 by Pius XI, who defined him as the pearl of the Italian clergy, he was canonized on 22 June 1947 by Pius XII. Pius XII presented him as a model of priestly life, father of the poor, consoler of the sick, supporter of prisoners, salvation of those condemned to death, and proposed him in his pontifical exhortation "Menti Nostrae" as a model for priests. In 1968, the church of San Giuseppe Cafasso in the Tuscolano district of Rome was dedicated to him.
