Francesco Spinelli

Francesco Spinelli was born on 14 April 1853 in Milan, then part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. He was raised in a devout Catholic family and from childhood showed a marked inclination toward the priesthood together with a strong devotion to the Eucharist. While he was still young the family moved to Cremona. He pursued ecclesiastical studies and was ordained a priest in 1875. In the first years of his ministry he devoted himself to pastoral work, catechesis, and care for the poor, while his personal spirituality remained centered on the Blessed Sacrament.

In the early 1880s, in Bergamo, he collaborated with Geltrude Comensoli in founding a community of women religious dedicated to perpetual Eucharistic adoration and to education and charity. That first institute, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, soon faced serious financial strain and conflict with local church authorities. Spinelli was obliged to leave Bergamo toward the end of the decade. He was received into the Diocese of Cremona, where he found the support needed to begin again.

In 1892 at Rivolta d'Adda he established a new congregation, the Sisters Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament. The sisters combined contemplative adoration of the Eucharist with an active apostolate among the poor, the sick, and girls in need of education. Spinelli served as founder and spiritual guide, living in evangelical poverty and enduring misunderstanding and material hardship. He insisted on humility, obedience, and unceasing prayer before the tabernacle. Under his direction the community took root and began to attract vocations.

He died in Rivolta d'Adda on 6 February 1913. Devotion to him spread especially within his congregation. Pope John Paul II beatified him on 21 June 1992. Pope Francis canonized him on 14 October 2018 in Saint Peter's Square, presenting him as a priest wholly given to the Eucharist and as founder of a religious family that unites adoration with works of charity. His liturgical memorial is kept on 6 February. The Sisters Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament continue his charism in Italy and elsewhere.