Guido M. Conforti (1865-1931)

BISHOP GUIDO CONFORTI longed to be a missionary, instead he formed missionaries . . .

Guido M. Conforti

Feast Day: November 5
Canonized: October 23, 2011

On his way to school near Parma, Italy, Guido Conforti would stop to visit a large crucifix in the Church of Peace. “I looked at Him, and He looked at me, and it seemed he was telling me many things,” Conforti said of the encounter, which led to his vocation. Inspired by a biography of St. Francis Xavier, Conforti longed to become a missionary. In 1895, the 30-yearold priest founded the Xavierian Missionaries in Parma with 14 men.

Pope Leo XIII named Conforti the bishop of Ravenna, Italy, in 1902. Here, he implemented a plan of Catholic education and catechesis because of the enormous amount of ignorance of the faith he found in the diocese.

Two years after being named bishop, he resigned due to ill health. Spiritually renewed, he was named bishop of Parma in 1907.

Over the course of his life, he attended 22 departure ceremonies of his missionaries, who served in Italy and China. In 1928, Conforti realized his dream through a 44-day missionary trip to India and China.

“We don’t need 3,000 missionaries in China, but 50,000!” he wrote. “I’ll look forward to that day when the whole of China will be called a Christian nation!”

TIM DRAKE is Legatus magazine’s editorial assistant.