Originally published at Catholic News Agency
Santiago Alberione was born on April 4, 1884, the fourth of six children in a devout working class family in San Lorenzo di Fossano, Cuneo, Italy. From a young age, he felt God calling him, and on his first school when the teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he responded, “I want to be a priest.”
This desire of his came true when he entered the seminary in Alba. During the night of December 31 1900 to January 1 1901 while still in the seminary, he prayed for four hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He saw a light shine forth from the Host, and from that moment he had an unusually powerful certainty that God was calling him to do something for the people of the new century.
He was ordained on June 29, 1907 and was assigned to a parish in Narzole. He served as spiritual director for youth and altar servers in the Alba seminary beginning October 1, 1908 and in September of 1913 he became director of the weekly publication Gazzetta d’Alba.
He founded the Society of Saint Paul on August 20, 1914, the Daughters of Saint Paul on June 15, 1915, the Sisters Disciples
