CONFORTI, GUIDO MARIA. - Bishop, b. at Ravadese (Parma) on 30 March 1865, d. at Parma on 5 Nov. 1931. He did his studies at Parma, always first or among the first. On 22 Sept. 1888 he was ordained a priest. In 1902 he was preconized archbishop of Ravenna. Because of a serious illness he had to withdraw. Restored to health, in 1908 he succeeded Msgr. Magani at Parma. After 24 years of laborious episcopate he died in the fame of sanctity, mourned by the people. Ten years after his death the diocesan process on the fame of sanctity was held, and the acts were presented in Rome.
Having taken over the government of the diocese of Parma, he was concerned above all with having a good, learned, active clergy. He celebrated a first synod in 1914 and a second after the publication of the Code of Canon Law, publishing its acts.
He founded the monthly bulletin Eco di Curia and rebuilt the Society of the Free Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, once flourishing and then decayed. He took part, above all with a notable personal contribution, in the episcopal conferences of Emilia. He held and presided over several congresses for various purposes and promoted various works of charity. He concerned himself particularly with the catechism, which he imposed in the form of a school. He instituted the Society of Culture among the clergy, which every month held conferences on topics of current interest. In 1922, on the occasion of political conflicts, he worked for peace and interposed his mediation.
When Fr. Manna conceived the idea of organizing the clergy into a great union for a uniform and continuous work for the missions, he turned to Msgr. C., who assured him of his own participation.
But the work for which Msgr. C. will remain marked in the history of the missions is the Pious Society of St. Francis Xavier for the Foreign Missions. In 1920 he went to visit its missions in China. He opened houses of the institute in the Veneto, in Lombardy, in the Marches, in Lucania.
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Giovanni Bonardi