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Guido Maria Conforti was born on March 30, 1865 in Casalora di Ravadese in the province of Parma, Italy. He was born the eighth of ten children into a farm family.
Guido was educated by the De La Salle Brothers in elementary school, and he had the habit of stopping into his parish church to make a visit to Jesus on the cross. Guido said that when he looked at Christ on the cross, “I looked at him and he looked at me and seemed to say so many things.”
When he was eleven years old, Guido entered the seminary in Parma. While there, he became enamored with St. Francis Xavier, one of the greatest missionaries the Catholic Church ever produced. Guido decided that he, too, should become a missionary priest. So, he applied for admission to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and to the Salesians of St. John Bosco. Both orders rejected his application.
In 1888, at the age of 23, Guido was ordained as a diocesan priest. As a new priest, he served as a seminary professor. Eight years later, he became the Vicar-General of the Diocese of Parma.
Although Fr. Guido did not get to become a Jesuit or Salesian, he did get to be a missionary by founding his own missionary order: the Xaverian Missionaries – on December 3, 1895. Pope Leo XIII approved the order four years later on December 3, 1899. The following year, Fr. Guido sent the first Xaverian missionaries to China.
While his new order was just getting started, Pope Leo XIII appointed him as Archbishop of Ravenna in 1902. However, in 1904, Archbishop Guido resigned because of illness.
Three years later, in 1907, he became the Bishop of Parma. He was famous for his visits to all the diocesan parishes on horseback, and his love and commitment to religious education.
Many believe that Archbishop Guido was highly instrumental in the creation of Pope Benedict XV’s encyclical, Maximum illud, issued on November 30, 1919. It has been called the “Magna Carta” of modern Catholic missionary work.
Although he never worked directly in the foreign mission fields of China, Guido did get to spend time with Xaverian missionaries in China when he visited them in 1929.
Guido died on November 5, 1931 in Parma, Italy, at the age of 66.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized Guido on October 23, 2011.
Saint Guido Maria Conforti’s feast day is November 5. He is a patron saint of the Xaverian Missionary Fathers.
Today, hundreds of Xaverian Missionaries serve in twenty-five nations of the world.
