Carlo Salerio (22 March 1827 – 29 September 1870), was a missionary for PIME and MEP on the island of

Woodlark The woodlark or wood lark (''Lullula arborea'') is the only extant species in the lark genus ''Lullula''. It is found across most of Europe, the Middle East, western Asia and the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident (non-bird migrati ...

(modern day Papua New Guinea).

Early life

He studied in

Seveso Seveso (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Monza and Brianza, in the Region of Lombardy. The economy of the town has traditionally been based on the furniture industry. Its name comes from the river of the same name which crosse ...

, Milan, and

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

. He would later meet Angelo Ramazzotti, who introduced him to PIME. During the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century Political movement, political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, annexation of List of historic states of ...

, Salerio fought in the insurgency of the

Five Days of Milan The Five Days of Milan ( ) was an insurrection and a major event in the Revolutions of 1848, Revolutionary Year of 1848 that started the First Italian War of Independence. On 18 March, a rebellion arose in the city of Milan which in five day ...

. On May 25, 1850, he became an ordained priest, later with an agreement with the,

Archbishop of Milan The Archdiocese of Milan (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has long maintained its own Latin liturgical rite usage, the Amb ...

, Cardinal Bartolomeo Carlo Romilli he entered the

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (, , MEP) is a Catholic Missionary order, missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular clergy, secular priests and Laity, lay persons dedicated to missionary wo ...

Life as part of a mission

In 1852 he left to the island of Woodlark leaving in 1855 due to illness. He was part of one of the first groups of missionaries to

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

Life on return to Italy

When he returned to Milan he taught English and remained a charitable of the church. He would dream of a female religious foundation which he would achieve in 1859. In 1859, both he and Carolina Orsenigo founded the Institute of the Sisters of Reparation, which would help women in need.

Veneration

On May 13, 2019, Pope Francis gave Salerio the title of Venerable. A street in Milan is named after him.

Illnesses and death

He would suffer from multiple illnesses in

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

, forcing him to be sent to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, and later back to Italy. He died of natural causes in 1870.{{Cite web , title=CatholicSaints.Info » Blog Archive » Venerable Carlo Salerio , url=https://catholicsaints.info/venerable-carlo-salerio/ , access-date=2025-04-07 , language=en-US

References

19th-century Italian Christian clergy 1827 births 1870 deaths People from Milan Italian venerated Catholics