ON OCTOBER 9, 2022, Giovanni Battista Scalabrini was canonized a saint in the Catholic Church. Known as “father to the migrants,” Scalabrini served as parish priest and bishop before founding the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles in 1887. The order grew to include groups of both lay and religious sisters soon after.

St. Scalabrini’s central commitment to the lives and concerns of migrants and refugees continues to animate the work of the order. Says Very Rev. Miguel Alvarez, cs, Provincial of the Missionaries of St. Charles, of Scalabrini’s life and canonization,

[He] was a man of conciliation, completely devoted to the strengthening of faith and compassionate to those in need, particularly the deaf-mute, workers, and most of all, migrants. In migration, he saw not only the drama of people uprooted from their land, but also the possibility for the beginning of a new humanity, forged through the encounter of different peoples and an instrument of God’s design to reunite all in Christ. His teaching remains: to be with migrants is not a mission delegated to a few, but a mission of the whole Church for all migrants….

Giovanni Battista Scalabrini
(1839-1905)

As an international community of religious serving migrants and refugees of different cultures, religions, and ethnicities in 32 countries and on five continents, the charism and mission of the Scalabrinians is alive through the focus on missiology and interculturality at CTU. 

Catholic Theological Union is honored to be able to celebrate the canonization of St. Scalabrini alongside our Scalabrinian community members, and we give thanks for the Scalabrinian students and missionaries who have called CTU home. You can learn more about the work and history of the Scalabrinians here.