Giulia Salzano

Giulia Salzano was born on 13 October 1846 in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, in the province of Caserta, then in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. She was the daughter of Diego Salzano, a captain in the lancers of King Ferdinand II, and Adelaide Valentino. When she was four years old her father died, and she was placed in the Royal Orphanage of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, directed by the Sisters of Charity. She remained there until about the age of fifteen, receiving her schooling and religious formation from the sisters and making her First Communion in that setting.

After leaving the orphanage she continued her studies and in 1865 obtained a teaching diploma. She was assigned as a schoolteacher in Casoria, near Naples, where she spent the remainder of her life. Alongside ordinary classroom work she devoted herself especially to catechesis of children, young people, and adults, with particular attention to the poor. In Casoria she came into contact with other leading figures of Neapolitan Catholic life, including Caterina Volpicelli, later canonized, foundress of the Servants of the Sacred Heart, and Ludovico of Casoria, later beatified. She bound herself by a private vow of chastity and oriented her life more and more toward the apostolate of teaching the faith.

On 21 November 1905 she founded the Congregation of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart, an institute dedicated to catechetical instruction, the Christian education of children and girls, and related works of charity. She served as the congregation’s first superior and formed its members in a spirituality centered on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and on the Church’s teaching mission. The sisters worked in parishes, schools, and families, seeking to make religious instruction available to those who had little access to it. Salzano continued to govern the community and to teach into old age.

She died in Casoria on 17 May 1929. A cause for canonization was later introduced. Pope John Paul II beatified her on 27 April 2003, and Pope Benedict XVI canonized her on 17 October 2010. Her liturgical memorial is kept on 17 May. The motherhouse of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Casoria is the principal place associated with her memory and the resting place of her remains.