Albini, Carlo Domenico

ALBINI, CARLO DOMENICO. - Oblate missionary of Mary Immaculate, b. at Menton on 26 Nov. 1790, d. at Vico on 23 May 1839. In the seminary of Nice, a priest (1815) and then a professor, he met Msgr. De Mazenod, founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and joined him, subsequently holding the chair of moral theology in the seminary of Marseilles. In his teaching he was a proponent of St. Alphonsus Liguori. An excellent orator, also in French and in Provençal, he devoted himself to missions, especially rural ones, and to the work of protection for Italians founded by Mazenod. Transferred to Corsica (1834), he dedicated himself to combating the religious and moral decadence of the island: he reformed the seminary, organized missions everywhere, fighting immorality and the spirit of vendetta, promoting peace among families and among towns and organizing solemn demonstrations of penance. Acclaimed "apostle of Corsica," he took up again the traditions of St. Alexander Sauli and of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, and died worn out by labors at the residence of Vico, in a reputation for holiness.