Vatican City, May 27, 2016 / 10:55 am
When Pope Francis met with the Sons of Divine Providence – also known as the Orionine Fathers – on Friday, he urged them to be faithful to the charism of their founder, St. Luigi Orione. So what is this charism?
"Don Orione recommended that you 'seek out and treat the wounds of the people, cure their infirmities, and reach out to them morally and materially: in this way your action would be not only effective, but profoundly Christian and saving,'" Pope Francis reminded the Orionines May 27 at the Vatican's Clementine Hall.
The Orionines are gathered in Rome for their 14th General Chapter, at which they elected a new superior general, Father Tarcisio Vieira.
The Sons of Divine Providence were founded by St. Luigi Orione in 1893, while he was still a seminarian. St. Orione was born in Italy in 1872, and he was a student at the Valdocco Oratory in Turin, which was operated by St. John Bosco. His motto was "do good to all; harm no one."