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Giovanni Battista Piamarta was born in Brescia, Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia (modern-day Italy) on November 26, 1840, into a poor family. His father was a barber, and his mother, a homemaker who died when he was nine years old.
Giovanni spent his childhood growing up in city slums. It was there that he learned, first-hand, the problems facing young people who grew up with little material blessings in life. But at the same time, he also knew of their dreams, dreams such as one day, they would be able to have good jobs and homes.
Giovanni’s maternal grandfather did what he could to help him navigate in his early life by sending him to the Oratory of Saint Thomas. And though he had a rough adolescence, his parish in Vallio Terme. Saints Peter & Paul, helped him enter the seminary of the diocesan seminary.
On December 23, 1865, Giovanni was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Brescia. As a diocesan priest, he became known as “zealous, excellent, and flawless in everything.” Eventually, Father Giovanni became pastor St. Benedict the Abbot parish in the Brescia town of Pavone de Mella.
During his priesthood, Brescia was deep in the process of industrialization and the social problems that usually accompanies rapid social change. He saw youth and workers struggle in ways like his own youthful days in the slums.
On December 3, 1886, Father Giovanni, with the help of Monsignor Capetti and various Catholic Movement members, established the Institute Artigianelli (Craftsmen or Workers). The purpose of this institute was to teach vocational skills to poor children and adolescents while, at the same time, teaching Christian education. In time, the institute grew and included buildings for workspaces, and large numbers of youth learned trades they could use to support themselves and families in the future.
Father Giovanni, with fellow priest Father Giovanni Bonsignori, founded the Agricultural Colony of Remedello. The work of these two men attracted others who shared their passion and vision. In March 1890, Father Giovani Piamarta founded the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth, often called the Piamartinis, to provide technical/vocational education throughout the world for the poor.
Father Giovanni Battista Piamarta died on April 25, 1913, in Remedello. In 1926, he remains were moved to the church of the workmen that he had built when he was alive.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 21, 2012. Blessed Giovanni’s feast day is April 25.
