Our founder Don Rubino


Don Giovanni Battista Rubino

Founded our Congregation October 15, 1815 in La Morra.


Dedicava molta attenzione alle vocazioni al sacerdozio ed alla vita religiosa...

Da giovane, affascinato dalla figura di San Luigi Gonzaga, promosso a livello popolare dai Gesuiti, aveva costituito a La Morra una Compagnia a lui intitolata raccogliendo adesioni tra i giovani del paese e propagandola efficacemente in molte parrocchie della diocesi.

 

 

The branches, leaves and fruit

Giovanni Battista, at the tender age of…. years, leader among his companions, keen-minded and a dreamer, gave rise to a youth association denominated "the Luigine pious association" and placed it under the protection of Saint Luigi Gonzaga of Mantua.
The pious association of the “Luigines” rapidly spread through the parishes even beyond Piedmont, so that by 1838, in Italy, there were 40 such groups.
 

Not only pretty leaves

Born on February 12, 1776, Giovanni Battista completed his high school studies in Alba, enrolled in a seminary and was ordained priest on March the 7th 1799, at the Cathedral of Alba by Bishop Pio Vitale who immediately sent him back to La Morra with these words: “yes, be a true "Rubino" (ruby) in the crown of the Church! Go to your land and be a priest according to the heart of God.” And that is precisely what he did.

The fruit in school

the formation and education of the younger generations were his “thing” (or if you prefer, his main concern). He worked intensely for about 40 years in the school. Those were difficult times on account of the French Revolution and Napoleonic domination. But he stubbornly pushed ahead, sustaining exam after exam at the University of Turin. Recognizing his competence, the authorities wanted him as District School Supervisor, but his heart, mind and eyes were for those who had no access to education, especially for girls in misery.

The tastiest fruit

is his life immersed in God, a God of love, tender and merciful. His spirituality swam against the tide of that period's Jansenist rigorism. He nourished his faith drawing from the Word of God, the liturgy, and his masters, especially St. Ignatius of Loyala, Saint Alfonso Maria de Liguori, Saint Francis of Sales, Saint Teresa d’Avila. Faith, hope, and charity have always been the foundational virtues of all forms of spirituality.

And yet more precious fruit

For many long years, don Rubino toyed with the idea of starting a female congregation. He looked for female collaborators and found them in two, young and generous youths: M. Teresa Caminale of La Morra and M. Teresa Moscone of Monforte. And so on October 15th, 1815, they went to live in a small house close to the church of St. Rocco, in La Morra. A humble and simple birth recalling the birth of Our Lord Jesus in Bethlehem. Their name was “the Oblate Sisters of San Luigi.”

A good tree bears good fruit

After a life spent in the service of Christ and his fellow man, and already accompanied by a fame of sanctity, don Rubino - lovingly assisted by his daughters - reaches the end of his earthly journey on the 11th of February, 1853, in La Morra.