Born in Sartirana Lomellina, Province of Pavia, Italy, on October 5, 1881, Blessed Don Francesco Pianzola witnessed since childhood the austere difficulties agricultures faced for their living. Entering the Seminary of Vigevano, Pavia, where he was ordained to the Priesthood by Bishop Pietro Berruti on March 16, 1907, he kept in mind his humble roots, and successively spent his life working among the agricultures and factory workers, preaching and working beside them. Called affectionately, "don Niente", or "The Apostle of Lomellina", he founded the Padri Oblati Diocesani dell'Immacolata, and later the Istituto delle Suore Missionarie dell'Immacolata Regina della Pace, known as the Suore Pianzoline, on May 8, 1919, establishing the Mother House at Mortara. Pianzola passed away at Mortara on June 4, 1943, aged 61. His remains lie inside an urn at the Chapel of the Mother House of the Suore dell'Immacolata at Mortara. Declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on June 26, 2006, Pianzola was beatified on October 4, 2008, by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins CMF., Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in Milan, in a ceremony attended by over 6,000 people.
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