Bl. Luigi Bordino

Andrea Bordino was born in 1922 at Castellinaldo in Piedmont, Italy, into a devout family. In 1942 he was drafted into the Alpine artillery and sent to the Russian front. He was taken prisoner and suffered hunger and hardship in camps as far as Siberia before returning home after the war.

In 1946 he entered the Cottolengo in Turin, a large charitable house for the sick and poor, and became Brother Luigi of the Consolata. He made his final vows in 1966. Called "the gentle giant" for his strong build, he became the nurse most in demand among patients, sisters and doctors.

He died of leukaemia in 1977, aged fifty-five, and was beatified in Turin in 2015.

Luigi Bordino was beatified in 2015.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.