Beatification

Clemente Marchisio was beatified in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome by Pope John Paul II on September 30, 1984 together with another Piedmontese priest, Federico Albert, and to Isidoro de Loor and Rafaela Ybarra De Villalonga.

That Sunday’s Alleluia  was taken from the Gospel of John: “Alleluia, alleluia. / My sheep listen to my voice / and I know them and they follow me“.

The pope’s homily was totally focused on the figure of the good shepherd. For the founder of the Daughters of St. Joseph he said:

The image of Christ the Good Shepherd also glows in the blessed Don Clemente Marchisio:

Clemente always worried about being “an example to the faithful in words, in behavior, in charity, in faith” (1 Tim 4:12). He made every effort to progress in grace with which every priest is endowed in Christ, thus becoming an ever more powerful and live instrument of Jesus the eternal priest. He was a man of prayer, as every priest must be, aware of having to invoke God, Lord of the universe and of his life, but also that true worship, worthy of the infinite holiness of God, is achieved above all through the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. He therefore always had great zeal in devoutly celebrating the Eucharistic mystery, in doing adoration untiringly and in taking care of the decorum of the various liturgical celebrations. In fact, he was convinced that the Church is built above all around the Eucharist, and that in taking part in it, the members of the Christian community identify themselves mystically with Christ and become one in it.

John Paul II closed by saying:

“The blesseds of today not only followed the Good Shepherd, letting themselves be guided by him

the “comfort which comes from charity” manifests itself in love. Therefore each of them gave their life for the sheep, together with Christ, and tried to “lead” the others, with the Word, with their work, with their example and service, towards salvation.”

The remains of Clemente Marchisio are venerated in the parish of Rivalba.