Bishop of Parma, Missionary to the World
Saint Guido Maria Conforti was born on March 30th, 1865, at Ravadese, in the Diocese of Parma (Italy). While attending elementary school in Parma, Guido Maria Conforti had his first prayer conversations with Christ crucified at the Church of Peace. He used to recall:
"That Crucifix gave me my vocation," and "it seemed like he told me many things."
As a young man, he was burning with missionary zeal, just like St. Francis Xavier whom he wanted to imitate. After he became a diocesan priest, at the age of 30 he founded in 1895 a new Society, which he conceived as solely and exclusively missionary: the Society of St. Francis Xavier.
In 1899 he was already sending the first missionaries to evangelize China. His cherished dream was to continue the work left undone by St. Francis Xavier, who died on a small island as he was about to bring the Gospel to China.
The Cross: The source of Conforti's Vocation
God revealed the fullness of his love in his Crucified Son. One day this love touched the heart of young Guido Conforti in an almost natural way. He was but a child. Every morning, he stopped at the “Church of Peace” to gaze at the large Crucifix there.
This was the beginning of an uninterrupted dialogue with Christ crucified. Later when he was sixty years old and bishop, his sister often found him rapt in ecstasy before that crucifix, which had been brought to his residence, at his request. Was it that dialogue with the Crucified Lord that sparked the idea to found a missionary congregation?
Archbishop of Ravenna, ready to do God’s will
In May of 1902, Conforti was named Bishop of Ravenna by Pope Leo XIII. It could have been a deadly blow to Conforti and his newly born congregation. In his conversation with the Pope, Conforti shared his dream of going to China, and the Pope told him that his field of work was Ravenna, “the China of Italy.” The Pope continued: “I summoned you to Rome in person so that you could hear from the mouth of the Pontiff himself what he asks of you. So be ready to do the will of God and He will give you the grace necessary for the fulfillment of His plan.”
On June 11th, 1902 at St. Paul Church outside the Walls in Rome, Guido was consecrated Bishop. He also made his religious profession together with the vow to dedicate himself without reserve to the proclamation of the Gospel “ad gentes.” This assignment proved to be a Way of the Cross.
Visit to China and Death of a Saint
One last significant event in Conforti’s life was his journey to China, which he undertook “as a duty and a need of my heart.” Notwithstanding his ability to deal with missionary problems as a founder of a missionary congregation and president of the Missionary Union of the Clergy, he recognized that this trip would help him appreciate more the mission service and dimension of the church.
China gave him a new sense of the vastness of its territory: “We don’t need 3,000 missionaries in China, but 50,000!… I’ll look forward to that day when the whole of China will be called a Christian nation!” Before leaving China, Bishop Conforti addressed his missionaries by saying, “I hope that my visit will bring great good, deepen our love, and give all of us greater encouragement to work willingly and constantly for the missions… I’m amazed at what you have accomplished for the good of these Chinese people. How I would like to be young again, and dedicate all my energies to them!”
He then died a saintly death in Parma, on November 5, 1931. Pope John Paul II declared Guido Maria Conforti “Blessed” in the eyes of the whole church on March 17, 1996. Pope Benedictus XVI canonized him on October 23, 2011.
