ORPHANS' PATRON

The seventh of eight children, Tommaso Maria Fusco was born in 1831 in Salerno, Italy. By the time he was ten, both of his parents were dead. As a priest, he remembered the deep loneliness he felt as an orphan and devoted his ministry to caring for children without parents. Father Fusco founded the religious congregation of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood, beginning with three women who cared for seven orphan girls. He was beatified in October 2001. Today, 450 sisters from the order he founded minister all over the world. The sisters in Schenectady comprise one of three convents in the U.S. The order has been in the Albany Diocese since 1947 when they were called to minister to priests and seminarians at LaSalette Seminary in Altamont. (PP)

(05-30-02)