Guido Maria Conforti was born in 1865 in Parma, Italy to a family of farmers. He desired to become a missionary, but was turned down by the Jesuits and the Salesians. He was ordained for the Diocese of Parma and served as vicar general in that Diocese. In 1895, he founded the Xaverian Missionaries, which was approved as a missionary order by Pope Leo XIII. Their first missionaries were sent to China. Today, this order has missionaries in 21 countries. Their American branch is located in Wisconsin. He became the Bishop of Parma, Italy in 1907. He visited all the parishes in his diocese on horseback. He put a strong emphasis on religious education. He was one of the inspirations for the apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XV on the principles and priorities of the Church’s missionary work, Maximum illud. It is considered one of the main Church documents that defines the Church’s missionary role. Conforti died in 1931. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.
Jesus summed up God’s law in the commandments to love God and love our neighbor. In his letter to the Romans, St Paul sums up God’s law in the same manner. Living in God’s love will help bring us closer to God’s commandments. Yet, this is not easy to put into practice each day. Even for me as a priest, it is not always easy to apply God’s law to some of the situations I face in the parish, in my ministries, and in my work as vicar general. That is what is so interesting for us to learn about the saints, to find out how they applied God’s laws and commandment in the reality of their lives.
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