San Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo

Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo (1786-1842) devoted himself to caring for the gravely ill and severely disabled with multiple impairments. He established the Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza in Turin, supported by several religious congregations operating under the motto "Caritas Christi urget nos" – "the love of Christ compels us" – with Christ crucified as their guiding text.

The most renowned among these are the Sisters of Saint Vincent, or Vincenzine, whom people preferred to call simply the Cottolengo Sisters, along with the Cottolengo priests. In 1833, a group of lay religious brothers emerged – the Brothers of Saint Vincent. Cottolengo entrusted them with the care of residents in the male households. Among them stood out the figure of Master Paolo Basso (1805-1879), a man of profound learning and faith.

In September 1834, in a small house purchased along the Dora River, Cottolengo accepted the first deaf-mutes. At that time, there were approximately 4,500 in the valleys of Piedmont and Savoy, often the result of marriages between blood relatives. They were completely excluded from society. Cottolengo immediately secured the collaboration of the deaf-mute teacher Paolo Basso, a Genoese man of remarkable talent who could communicate in six languages and write in both Latin and Greek.

Cottolengo placed him in charge of the deaf-mute families, both male and female. Cottolengo himself attended the lessons Basso taught to the deaf-mutes, along with the Vincentian sisters, all learning the art of communicating with them.

Five years later, Dr. Lorenzo Granetti (1801-1871) could declare in an official communication: "Approximately 150 deaf-mutes welcomed into the Piccola Casa have already been returned to their homes, capable of living independently and equipped with the knowledge necessary for society."