His background
Blessed Joseph Allamano, our founder, was born on 21st January, 1851 in Castelnuovod’Asti, Province of Turin, Italy. At this time Victor Emmanuel II was the king and Massimo d’Azeglio was the prime minister. Allamano got baptised the following day (22-01-1851). His parents were Giuseppe Allamano and Marianna. He had 3 brothers and one sister: (Bro) Giovanni (1841), (Sis) Orsola (1844), (Bro) Natale (1849) & (Bro) Ottavio (28-121853). Allamano was the fourth in the family. Their father died on 2nd December, 1853 of anthrax, when Allamano was barely three. The family was relatively well off, as it lived on free-holding farming. Marianna, Allamano’s mother, was a very hard-working woman, she brought up the family efficiently, even after the death of her husband, and also managed to keep an eye on the needs of her neighbours, especially the poor and the sick.
Allamano attended the Pescarmona nursery school in Castelnuovo, which was run by Benedetta Savio, a woman who was so holy that Don Bosco referred to her to as a nun at home. Allamano was nine years old when his uncle (Fr. Cafasso, now St. Cafasso) died in 1860. After kindergarten Allamano went to elementary school in Castelnuovo and on 17th October 1860 he was confirmed. On 1862 he completed the fifth grade of elementary school (this year also his brother Natale completed his first year of junior high school in Turin, at Don Bosco’s College (secondary school) in Valdocco).
Allamano the seminarian
At eleven Allamano entered the college (secondary school) at Valdocco, accompanied by his uncle Fr. Giovanni (this was 1862 autumn). Don Bosco was his regular confessor. Due to his brightness in academics, he managed to complete a five-year syllabus in a period of four years (this was on Sunday 19th August, 1866). Having completed his junior high school, the same year he went to the parish priest of Castelnuovo and received the cassock. He had decided to become a diocesan priest against his brothers’ will. On 1st November 1866 Allamano entered the metropolitan seminary in Turin, accompanied by his uncle from Passerano. That decision was against Allamano’s brothers who tried their best to urge him against the choice. To them it would have been better to go into a government school first. Obviously, the advantage of studying in the government school was that at the end, it would be easier to get a job. In addition, the life in the seminary was never easy, and the likelihood of not finishing was always a threat. Allamano brothers’ discouragement was therefore not out of malice or envy. They just wanted their brother to be on the safe side in case things did not work out well in the seminary. Aware that human life is in the hands of God come what may, Allamano replied to his brothers’ suggestion, “God is calling me now, and I am not sure that he will call me tomorrow”. These may be seen as simple words, but they say a lot about Allamano and about the religious vocation. For him the now was very important.
The “theme of now” is paramount not only in religious life but also in the general Christian life. St. Paul writes, now is the moment of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2; Isa. 49:8). In other words, we should not wait until tomorrow, because it may be too late. Our response to our vocation should be prompt, immediate, or swift if I may say. Just as the apostles left everything and followed Jesus immediately without asking questions, we must act on our vocation now. At least we would have expected the apostles to ask Jesus where he was taking them, how long they would need to follow him, how their families were to survive in their absences, etc. To our surprise, when Jesus said “follow me”, they acted immediately. Probably they sensed that if they did not act on Jesus’ call, they would lose a rare opportunity. Allamano knew that the voice of God he was hearing at that moment was likely to be drowned by many other voices if he did not act on it immediately. This tells us also that when it comes to the issue of vocation, there should be no question of tomorrow. We must respond now. It is understandable why Allamano did not want to postpone his going to the seminary. Probably he knew that many young seminarians lose their vocation because they live a tomorrow that has not yet come and forget the today that is before them. When young people struggle to know Latin and Italian while at the Propaedeutic level while not responding to key events like community moments of prayer, meals and recreation, one sees a person living a tomorrow that is not yet, while forgetting a today that is before him. When a young priest collides with everyone looking for leadership, power, authority and influence while refusing to obey his superiors, people see in him a person living a tomorrow that is not yet, forgetting a today that is before him. Such a person needs to be reminded that usually, those who are good at following orders and instructions most of the time become good leaders. That means those who are bad at following instructions certainly become bad leaders, since good leaders must also be good listeners. Fr. Allamano’s words should therefore be a wakeup call to all of us, whether in basic (initial) formation or on the on-going formation.
In the seminary, he was an excellent seminarian, taking pains to learn all the rules so that he may not break any one of them (very obedient). Again, he remained a studious student, especially because he believed that an ignorant priest does more harm that a wicked one. On 1868, his brother Ottavio fractured his hand while ringing the Parish Church bell for the evening Angelus. A certain doctor tied his hand very tight that blood stopped circulating. That affected the young man so badly that at last after several doctors saw him, they decided that amputation was the only option. With the help of Fr. John Allamano (uncle of Allamano) however, the young man managed to graduate in law at the University of Turin. Allamano lost his mother Marianna on 15th December 1869, making him an orphan, since his father had died long time before. We certainly don’t need to be told the effects of lack of parents as one is growing. Allamano must have been very strong to withstand the blow, especially given that he was a person of poor health – yet he did.
Allamano the priest
On 25th May 1872 he received the tonsure, making him a member of the Turinese clergy incardinated into the diocese. On 21st, December 1872 Allamano received the sub-diaconate after making his retreat at Chieri (this stage involved a vow of perpetual chastity). On 23rd March 1872 he was ordained a deacon, and on 20th September 1873 he received his priesthood at a tender age of 22. In truth, Allamano should have been ordained in June that year, but he had not yet attained twenty-two years and a half by that month. As a result, he was forced to wait for another three months. What he did not know was that, that was the first lesson on patience that God was teaching him. Soon, other episodes of his life would demand maturity in the virtue. Fr. Allamano, like every young priest, would have wished to be appointed to a parish after his ordination. In fact, he voiced that fact to Archbishop, Msgr. Lorenzo Gastaldi respectfully saying “I had hoped to be an assistant pastor and maybe later a parish priest in some little village”. The Archbishop responded “You wanted to be a parish priest? If that is what is bothering you, I am giving you the most important parish in the diocese: the seminary”. With those words Fr. Allamano found himself a formator at an early age. It is important to re-look this episode of Allamano’s life. What does it tell us?
First his word: He would have wished to be appointed an assistant pastor in a little village. The words of Allamano tell a lot about himself, and about how we should live our missionary life. Unlike many people, Fr. Allamano did not harbour ambitions of greatness and power. Many people would have demanded to be parish priests, but Fr. Allamano’s desire was to serve as an assistant. Even today, very few people like to be in the second position. We all like to be the first in everything and everywhere. The result of these hidden agenda in us is always jealousy, envy, competition in the ministry, hatred and backbiting in our communities and sometimes even malice. Many religious people and missionaries live their lives as heavy crosses just because their confrere(s) are not ready to be the second in different spheres. Fr. Allamano seems to have known that this was the foundation of conflicts in community life and avoided it like a plague.
In addition, we have read that Fr. Allamano would have wished to be an assistant pastor in “a little village”. Again, few people would have chosen that. Even today, no one wants to be sent in a little obscure parish. There are missionaries who wish to be sent in big parishes, which are economically stable. It is a bad sign when a missionary demands to know if the place he is appointed has a big comfortable house, electricity, internet, tarmac roads and telephone coverage. We can call that a bad sign because Abraham Maslow, the great psychologist taught us that needs cause motivation, and when they are not satisfied, they cause frustration, conflicts and stress. This is why it is important to see things Fr. Allamano’s way. The wishes of those who wish to be true missionaries should therefore be the same of those of Fr. Allamano. After all, it is what Christ teaches us when he says “do not carry a haversack, clothes, money, an extra pair of tunic, etc” (Mt. 10:9-14; Lk. 10:4; Lk. 9:3-5). Second, Fr. Allamano would have liked to be in a pastoral set up, but he found himself in a formative set up. It was not inappropriate for Fr. Allamano to have such dreams for he too was burning with the apostolic zeal that all young ordained priests should have. His openness to whatever the will of God brought in his young priestly life was therefore remarkable.
Fr. Allamano went to the most important parish according to his bishop: seminary. That is where he would begin his priestly ministry: following up young people and shaping their desires to serve God into honest, genuine vocation to be ministers in the Church. Fr. Allamano could not forget the advice of Archbishop Gastaldi: “Like a music teacher, who will not let a wrong note pass, even if it is only a little one, you too should not let even the most trivial shortcoming go by”. The sentiments of the archbishop were not really a novelty to Fr. Allamano. He was naturally a serious person, who never took things lightly. For instance, Fr. Allamano demanded that in addition to paying attention in the Church, the students were not to make noise by sneezing or blowing their noses aimlessly. When feeding the cat, they were not supposed to soil the floor. And when in lavatories, they were not supposed to sing or whistle. These may certainly appear irrelevant details to follow, but those who ignore small details end up ignoring open and glaring big ones. After all, the scripture itself teaches us that he who is faithful in little things will be faithful in great ones (Lk. 16:10).
With that understanding, Fr. Allamano embarked on the formative ministry, proving to be both fatherly and firm. He did not need to be told that before him was a huge responsibility. Assessing people’s suitability for religious life has never been easy, and it was not even then. It was a task that demanded a lot of balance. Even today, one has to be fair to the young person, and accountable to the Church. That is why Fr. Allamano did not need to be told that it would have been a huge mistake to let unsuitable candidates continue to the ministry deliberately, since that would have been comparable to a watchman letting thieves to enter a house that he is supposed to guard. On the other hand, it would have been a terrible tragedy to discontinue young people who had genuine vocation, as that would have amounted to “vocational abortion” – an awful thing especially if it was deliberate. Being a formator was, as it is today, a tactical act of balance. One has to balance between being friendly to the students and still firm enough to command authority. Fr. Domenico Agasso noting the sensitivity of the task Fr. Allamano had taken to be a formator says “it was easy to get oneself hated by the lads”.
In September 1876, after long protracted battles about moral theology at the Pastoral Institute, Archbishop Galstaldi relieved monsignor Bertagna of his duties as professor of moral theology, after the diocesan priests of Turin gave an unfavourable assessment of the moral theology that was being taught. Humiliated, Monsignor Bertagna went to the diocese of Asti, where he was made the Vicar General by the bishop. In the course of a few years, that position of lecturer of moral theology in the Pastoral Institiute consumed men of great stature in the diocese. Canon Ludovico Chicco, who succeeded Msgr Bertagna, ended up resigning in November 1879. His successor too, Canon Roetti, was also unable to do the job. He “simply walked out leaving the keys with the bursar”. Fr. Allamano watched from his post at the seminary the events that were happening in the Pastoral Institute. It was his nature not to put his nose in things that did not concern him. Probably he knew that meddling is the cause of most of the conflicts in the world even today. What he did not know was that sooner or later he would be heading the troubled ship.
The year 1880 began badly for Fr. Allamano. On 26th January, his brother Ottavio died of pneumonia at the age of twenty-six. The young man who was married to Benedettina Turco of Castelnuovo and with whom he had had a daughter, had completed his law degree two years before. The tragedy affected Fr. Allamano deeply. One time while he was with the clerics of Turin at the Hermitage, the Archbishop informed him that he had been appointed as the Rector of the Consolata which also meant being the Rector of the Shrine of St. Ignatius and the Pastoral Institute. “Thank you for trusting me, but I am too young for this huge responsibility”, Fr. Allamano said to the Archbishop. He was just twenty-nine years old. “Perfect! It is even better that you are young, because if you will make mistakes you will have all the time to rectify them”, the Archbishop said encouragingly. He was sure that Fr. Allamano was not objecting the appointment, but that his response was the result of the initial shock and fear that all people experience when called upon to undertake a new assignment. He was right. Fr. Allamano was exemplary in obedience. He had no equal in that. He respected authority deeply and obeyed even what many people would have been seen as discretionary opinions of the given authorities.
Fr. Allamano in the Consolata Shrine
On 2nd October1880 Fr. Allamano walked into the Consolata Shrine without warning. It was not his character to drum up electrifying and exorbitant reception for himself. His serene, cool and composed character made him avoid forums where people made themselves known. Fr. Giacomo Camisassa, who was just twenty-six years old, arrived at the Shrine the following day: 3rd October 1880. The two knew that they had a crucial duty before them. The Consolata was the Church in which many people of Turin took refuge when life became rough. There they went during wars, epidemics, public disasters etc. No one went there and returned home the same. Our Lady always ensured that those who went to her went home consoled by her son.
At the Consolata shrine, Fr. Allamano and Fr. Giacomo Camisassa discovered that the task they had taken was not as easy as it appeared. The Church was in a terrible situation. The structure was old and the paint had faded off. The Friars Minor who had been installed by the government in 1855 after the expulsion of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, were few and elderly and it would have been too much to demand of them much more than their presence. To help them retire in dignity, Fr. Allamano allocated four hundred lire a year as pension, an amount that the Archbishop raised to five hundred when he learned of it. With that, the three elderly Friars left the Consolata Shrine in a dignified way. One cannot miss the similarity of Fr. Allamano’s action to the action of St. Joseph of trying to leave Mary in a dignified manner when he learned of her pregnancy. Those are not actions of people who raise themselves above others. Those are actions of people who value the dignity of others, people who see the image of God in those they meet, and people who know that undermining others is undermining the creator.
Conspicuously, Fr. Allamano like St. Joseph, was a silent man. Both were people who spoke little but did much, people who did not like fanfare, but people who allowed God and other people to shine while they remained in the background. They were men of dignity themselves. Would we be making a mistake calling them silent industrious men? Fr. Allamano and Camisassa went on working. He knew how important the Pastoral Institute was to the diocese, but even more to the Consolata. The Pastoral Institute was a college where young priests went to finish off their studies. It was a launching pad to pastoral ministry in the diocese. Being near to the Consolata, the young priests offered their service to the people also. As such, Fr. Allamano knew that a fully functional Pastoral Institute was an advantage to the Christians. Fr. Allamano wished the Pastoral Institute were functioning. But the Archbishop had closed it down due to issues of moral theology. Many in the Turinese clergy had been against the decision. In fact, many blamed the Archbishop for various reasons, including being harsh and hasty.
Courageously, Fr. Allamano approached the Archbishop and gave him his opinion, which happened to have been very objective. Without blaming any side, Fr. Allamano explained that the presence of the young priests at the Pastoral Institute would have given the Christians a variety of priests for the sacraments, including Mass and confessions. He also made known to the Archbishop that many considered his action of closing the Pastoral Institute a punishment, and the best way to prove them wrong and to show that the closure was meant to rectify some issues was only to re-open the Pastoral Institute. Impressed by the argument of the young priest, the Archbishop said, “Well done! The Pastoral Institute will be opened on the condition that the teacher of Moral theology will be none other than the Collegiate Doctor Joseph Allamano”. Fr. Allamano did not believe his ears, but the Archbishop had spoken: the only way the Pastoral Institute would have been opened was to have him teach the moral theology.
True to his words, on 6th November 1882 the Archbishop re-opened the Pastoral Institute with Fr. Allamano as the Rector, and fathers Luigi Fassini, Giacomo Bertolone, Canon Ignazio Dematteis and Giacomo Camisassa as teachers. It is important to see deeper into this episode. Naturally, when there is a crisis, not everyone is given the chance to head crucial places. It is a sign of great trust to be handed an institution that is dead to bring it up. Certainly therefore, we cannot miss to see that Fr. Allamano commanded a lot of trust in the eyes of the Archbishop. Trust is a very expensive thing, and that is why you cannot get it in cheap people. Being trusted is a great sign of honour. Alas to him who cannot be trusted with anything. Lack of trustworthiness is the worst picture one can ever present to the world. Untrustworthiness means that people see dishonesty, hypocrisy, insincerity and pretense in a person. Such a person is the most dangerous animal among others because being dishonest also means that such a person is full of treacheries, corruption and fraudulence. In other words, such a person is not accountable. Simply put, no one can tell when such a person means what he says or does, when he says what he means and when is just kidding. Those who believe in such a person do so at their own risk.
The fact that Archbishop Gastaldi offered Fr. Allamano the Rectorship of the Pastoral Institute at that delicate moment showed that Fr. Allamano was an impeccable person. The trust of the Archbishop in Fr. Allamano came even more evident with time. Aware of the controversies that had rocked the Pastoral Institute, Fr. Allamano told the Archbishop that he would take the task on the condition that he would not be forced to use other notes of moral theology except his own. To that, the Archbishop said’ “Well, I trust you. Go on”. That was another sign that the Archbishop trusted the young priest fully. To allow him to use his own notes when the reason of the closure of the Pastoral Institute had been the subjective manner in which Moral theology was being presented was a noteworthy thing. Fr. Allamano got working. As he went along, he also incorporated the notes of the Archbishop, although he did not make them the main material. By that time, Fr. Allamano was an important figure in the diocese. His silent and keen manner of doing things seemed to favour him. After all, each one of us likes honest, faithful and serious people around us. That explains why he was becoming a key person around Archbishop Gastaldi. That fact was evident in that when the Archbishop decided to choose a group of young priests to help run things in the diocese, Fr. Allamano was one of them. Others included Fr. Giuseppe Maria Soldati who was put to be in charge of the Turin Metropolitan Seminary and Fr. Giuseppe Aniceto, who had implemented the Archbishop’s plan to transform the Episcopal Institute at Giaveno into a seminary for the boys. As usual, not everyone was happy with the appointments. Some people felt that the Archbishop was elevating “young boys” to tasks that belonged to more mature priests. You can imagine how such people felt when Fr. Allamano was made a canon of the Turin cathedral on 10th February 1883.
On 24th March 1883, an Easter Saturday, the Archbishop visited the Consolata Shrine to pray. As he was leaving, he noted that the Church was in a bad condition. Pointing it out to Fr. Allamano, the Rector said that he had a plan to renovate it. He had in fact been organizing himself to start external restoration of the ancient Church.
“Then get working on it”, the Archbishop said as he left. The two agreed to meet the following day in the Cathedral, and on Tuesday the following week for Lunch. Meanwhile, Fr. Allamano was to sign a contract with someone on Monday to begin the renovation of the Church. Unfortunately, however, the following day at 7.30 am the Archbishop was found unconscious on the floor of his room by his secretary. Two hours later he was pronounced dead, fulfilling the words of the scripture: “many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Prov. 19:21).
With the death of Archbishop Gastaldi, the diocese of Turin received Cardinal Gaetano Alimonda of Liguria as its bishop. He was a man of good temperament and lover of peace. As it happens always when a new person takes over a given position, he brought with him several changes. Notable among them was the recalling of Msgr. Bertagna, whom Archbishop Gastaldi had dismissed from teaching moral theology at the Pastoral Institute. On 1st May 1884, the Archbishop consecrated Bertagna a bishop and appointed him his auxiliary, in addition to putting him in charge of all seminaries. That of course meant the dismissal of Fr. Soldati who the previous Archbishop had appointed as Rector of the Turin Metropolitan Seminary. More shocking, the new bishop began appearing in the Pastoral Institute and giving topics of moral theology to students. The topics became lectures which with time became regular. At last Fr. Allamano was edged out of his teaching post (Cf. D. Agasso, Pg. 52). He was however not surprised.
The new Archbishop seemed bent to undo what his predecessor had done as far as appointments were concerned. Fr. Allamano having seen several of his colleagues brought down, he knew that soon he would also face the music. He was not wrong, because not long after that, he was invited by the Archbishop to present the accounts of the Consolata Shrine, together with those of the renovation he had been doing. Seemingly, someone had whispered into influential ears that Fr. Allamano may have been misusing the Church funds.
To their surprise, Fr. Allamano immediately delivered the complete accounts on the desk of the Archbishop, with every item of income and expenditure well recorded. With that, he returned to his duties and waited. To his surprise also, no comment ever came. Instead, the accounts were silently returned to him. It was obvious that the fault finding had failed to pin him down. Perplexed at how treacherous people could become, Fr. Allamano decided to visit the Archbishop and hand in his resignation. He was on his way to the palace of the Archbishop when he met with Fr. Felice Carpignano of the Oratorians. The latter was a respected clergyman in the diocese, who was also Fr. Allamano’s confessor. It was him who aborted the resignation program in Fr. Allamano’s mind. Convinced by Fr. Felice, Fr. Allamano returned to the Consolata and went on with his duties in silence and zeal – as usual.
It did not pass a lengthy period before the Archbishop himself visited the Consolata. He had begun seeing things differently, and the first reparation to what he had done was to appoint Fr. Allamano as the superior of the Josephite sisters, taking the place of Fr. Soldati who had died, and who had been unjustly and unceremoniously removed from the seminary. Sometime later, the Archbishop would openly say to Fr. Allamano in front of the Canons in the Cathedral that he had been misled about him. And with that he embraced him bringing into a closure what appeared to be misdirected feelings towards him. As the serene man that he was, Fr. Allamano went on living his life at the Consolata with Fr. Camisassa. They were at the time renovating the inside of the Consolata Shrine. The Rector, Fr. Allamano, to ensure that he kept the people of Turin informed about the progress of every step they made in the restoration of the Church, began a magazine which he called “La Consolata”. Through it, he would send invitations for contributions; provide useful information, in addition to giving notices about the state of the work and the estimates of the remaining work. That action encouraged the people, as through Fr. Allamano they saw Fr. Cafasso, who in his time always encouraged reliance on people’s spontaneous generosity. The move was also a clear manifestation of Fr. Allamano’s transparency. A transparency that would be later demanded of his missionaries.
Fr. Allamano dares to dream
Each human person is created by God for a given reason. It takes real effort to identify what one is meant for. Although Fr. Allamano was a diocesan priest, he found himself inspired by people who seeing the need to make a difference in the world had begun institutions that transformed people’s lives. He too felt called to identify a solution to the problem of ignorance of Christ in other continents, especially in Africa. He wondered at the serenity with which the European Church went about her business as if Christ had been already known everywhere. He expected to see concern and desire to do something about the plight of Africa where people still lived in “spiritual darkness”. Fr. Allamano had wished to be a missionary himself, but his frail health would never allow him.
After his visit to Rome between December 1887 and January 1888 for the jubilee of Leo XIII (i.e. of fifty years of priesthood), Fr. Allamano began thinking of starting the implementation of the idea that had been cooking in his head for some time: beginning a missionary Institute. On 6th April 1891 Fr. Allamano wrote the first letter to Propaganda Fide, expressing his intention to found a regional institute for priests devoted exclusively to missions. At the time, he was not asking for approval, but to find out if Propaganda Fide would allow such a project. Fr. Allamano’s motivation could have as well developed from the fact that although Turin had many Institutes devoted to various courses, unlike other dioceses, it did not have a missionary society. The only similar efforts that had been witnessed in Turin included the efforts of Canon Giuseppe Ortalda, who had projected himself as a great missionary activist in Turin by building what came to be known as “apostolic school”, only to end up dying in 1880 as a failure. On 13th April, Fr. Mancini informed Fr. Allamano that his idea had made a great impression to Propaganda Fide, and that it had been received well.
Fr. Allamano had explained to Propaganda Fide that his intention was not to animate and form young people to be missionaries and then hand them over to it to be assigned where it was necessary, as it had been the norm in the time, but to start an Institute destined to work in East Africa, and working under its own leadership. With the first initial positive sign, Fr. Allamano wrote back to Fr. Mancini saying that before going to Rome, as Propaganda Fide had requested, he had to inform his Archbishop since he had not said anything to him about his intention. Unfortunately, at the time, Archbishop Alimonda was sick in Genoa. Fr. Allamano wrote to the Archbishop explaining the facts of having such and such an idea, about having spoken to Rome (Propaganda Fide), and about having received a positive signal that this was a good idea.
It seems that the Archbishop was not impressed by the route that Fr. Allamano had taken. The Archbishop may have felt undermined by the fact that Fr. Allamano had already spoken to Vatican before even mentioning the issue to him. As a result, there was no reply to his letter for some time. After quite a period, a letter arrived from Genoa send by the secretary of the bishop informing him that due to the illness, the Cardinal could not deal with the issue. With that information, Fr. Allamano and Fr. Camisassa could not honour an invitation to go to Rome to discuss the issue in person. Aware of the usual behind the scene activities that precede most public things in life, Fr. Camisassa wrote to Fr. Barbagli, the procurator of the Congregation for missions in Rome, saying that it seems someone was against the project, and that they were not ready to start anything without the approval of their bishop, otherwise it would be like stifling the idea even before it took root.
Fr. Camisassa made it clear that if Propaganda Fide would have spoken on their behalf to the Archbishop, they would be secure. He also requested Propaganda Fide to continue supporting them even with ideas as they waited for things to unfold. In a word, what Fr. Allamano did not know was that his time of test had begun. As an experienced person, he must have known that all worthwhile projects necessarily pass through myriads of tests before they succeed, but he may not have been aware his time of test had come. In fact, what he had just experienced was the first of many challenges that were to come on his way before he could ever speak of being a founder. Below are other challenges that came on his way before founding the Consolata Missionary Institute.