![[Saint Luigi Scrosoppi]](saintl33.jpg "34kb jpg portrait of Saint Luigi, artist unknown; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
Aloysius Scrosoppi Aloysius of Udine Luigi Scrosoppi
In his teens, he felt a call to the priesthood, and entered the same seminary as his brother Giovanni. Deacon in 1826; ordained on 31 March 1827 at the cathedral in Udine; assisted at his first Mass by his brothers.
Director of the Pious Union of the Heart of Jesus Christ. Helped manage the children's center run by his brother Carlo. Franciscan tertiary. Assistant director of Carlo's orphanage in 1829. The orphanage fell on harder times than usual; Luigi, in desperation, hit the streets to beg for their support, and the school soon a great lesson in faith, and enough money to buy their building.
As there were more orphans than space, the brothers decided to enlarge the house; Luigi went through the countryside to beg building materials and labor. Work began in 1834 with Luigi coordinating, begging, supervising, and working construction; it was completed in 1836, and named the House for the Destitute. That year also saw another cholera epidemic, and the orphanages, again, were full.
The need of the orphans, and the constant work of the brother priests, attracted the attention of several area women who were also working with the poor and the abandoned. Among them were Felicita Calligaris, Rosa Molinis, Caterina Bros, Cristina and Amalia Borghese and Orsola Baldasso. These women, under the spiritual direction of Carlo and Luigi, founded what would become the Congregation of Sisters of Providence who taught basic academic subjects and needle crafts. Luigi placed them under the patronage of Saint Cajetan, and the Congregation received final approval on 22 September 1871 by Pope Pius IX.
In 1846 Luigi joined the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, a congregation devoted to charity and learning; elected provost of the community on 9 November 1856. On 4 October 1854 he finished work on the Rescue Home for abandoned girls. On 7 March 1857 he opened the school and home for deaf-mute girls; sadly, it survived only 15 years. Opened Providence House for his unemployed former students. Worked in the hospitals with the sickest and poorest of patients.
In his later years, Luigi had to combat anti-clerical sentiments that swept through the Italian peninsula during unification; many houses and groups, including the Oratory, were closed, and their assets sold off. While he could not save the Oratory or parish property, he did protect his charitable institutions, and saw the Congregation grow and spread.
During his canonization investigation, he was proven to have cured a Zambian AIDS victim, Peter Changu Shitima in 1996.
-Saint Luigi