Bl. Phillip Rinaldi was born on May 28, 1856 in Piedmont, Italy. He met Don Bosco when he was just five years old, and intuitively recognized that he was a man with a great mission.
At the age of 22, he entered the Salesian Order at the end of a tremendous vocational struggle, and even before making his vows he was made assistant novice master and was placed in charge of those with late vocations. He was ordained a priest in 1882.
He soon became the Salesian provincial superior in Spain, where he opened many new houses and then served as vicar-general of the Salesians before becoming the Rector Major in 1922, Don Bosco’s third successor.
His humble and quiet leadership of the order – he preferred to remain in the background of events, unnoticed in the crowd -- combined with his tremendous saintly virtue and apostolic zeal, and a healing miracle attributed to him at the end of the Second World War, prompted his cause for canonization.
He died on December 5, 1931 in Turin, and was beatified on April 29, 1990 by Pope John Paul II.
“What must you do to have life? Before all else, the first thing you have to do is pray for courage every day to carry the cross the Lord has assigned you. Then let each of you do your own work really well, the work proper to your state, as God wants it, and according to your condition.” - Blessed Philip Rinaldi
