Egidio Viganò
Pontifical Salesian University | |
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| In office 1977–1995 | |
| Member of the Synod on Family | |
| In office 1980–1995 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 June 1920 Sondrio, Italy |
| Died | 23 January 1995 (aged 74) Rome |
| Alma mater | Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. |
| Profession | Priest |
Egidio Viganò (born in
Life
Viganò was the 8th child of Francesco Viganò and Maria Enrichetta Cattaneo from Sondrio, northern Italy. In 1926 he frequented the official school and inscribed at the Salesian Youth Center, the place that would put him in contact with the Don Bosco's spirituality. In 1929, during the beatification of Don Bosco,[3] his mother made a pilgrimage to Turin for the occasion, an event that impressed her very much for the love and affection that people showed to the educator. She became a devote of Don Bosco and communicated it to her children. In 1932 Viganò entered the Salesian aspirantate in Chiari (Brescia) and the Salesian novitiate in Montodine in 1935. He studied philosophy in Foglizzo until 1939.
He applied to the missions abroad and was sent to Chile in 1939, at the age of 19, where he will continue his formation and mission for the following decades, being teacher at the Salesian Aspirantate of Macul and at National Gratitude of Santiago. he finished his theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 1949. In 1961 he was sent to make studies in Rome for one year and returned to Chile.
Rector Major
Between 1962 and 1965 Vigano participated at the Second Vatican Council, an event that would make him known to the Catholic Church. In 1968 he was elected as Provincial of Chile and president of the Chilean Conference of Religious Superiors. He was also invited to participate in the 1968's
He was elected as Rector Major of the Salesians on 15 December 1977, Grand Chancellor of the
Pope John Paul II elected him as member of the
During his government, in 1984, Pope John Paul II made blessed Mgr. Luigi Versiglia and Fr. Callisto Caravario, martyrs in China. That same year he was reelected Rector Mayor on May 15 and he preached the Spiritual Retreats of the Pope and the Roman Curia.
He was also the Rector Major that presided over the celebrations of the centenary of the dead of Don Bosco (31 January 1888). The main event was the visit of Pope John Paul II to
In 1990 the General Chapter of the Salesians elected Vigano for a third period as Rector Major. That year Pope John Paul II made blessed Filippo Rinaldi. In 1991 the Pope invited Vigano to the Synod for Latin America in Dominican Republic. In 1993 he opened the Institute for Communication Science of the Pontifical Salesian University. In 1994 the Pope made another Salesian blessed: sister Maddalena Morano.
Egidio Vigano still as Rector Major when he became sick, supported in the government by his vicar Juan Edmundo Vecchi. He died on 23 January 1995. He was honored in his adoptive country, Chile.
See also
Notes
- ^ John Paul II (1988). Iuvenum Patris. Rome, 31 January 1988.
- ^ "Obituary: Don Egidio Vigano". The Independent. 1995-07-11. Retrieved 2023-06-23.
- ^ St. John Bosco (Canonized: 1934). Beatified 6-2-1929[clarification needed]. Link retrieved on 4 February 2015 from http://www.salesianmissions.org/about-us/st-john-bosco-canonized-1934.
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