FAÀ DI BRUNO, FRANCESCO. — Priest, born at Alessandria on 29 March 1885 into the well-known family, died at Turin on 27 March 1888. A captain and combatant at Novara, he studied mathematics in Paris in order to become tutor to the royal princes; when this prospect vanished, or because he had refused a duel, he resigned from the army and, after taking his degree at the Sorbonne, entered the University of Turin in 1857, but was unable, because of Masonic intrigues, to become a full professor.
While still a layman he wrote or edited ascetical publications (notably the Manuale del soldato cristiano, Turin 1862, 2nd ed. there 1866) and devoted himself to works of the apostolate, as he had seen his teacher Cauchy do, whose biography he composed. He founded (1859) the Opera di S. Zita, still in existence, for domestic servants, devoting all his resources to it and incorporating institutions which he devised with originality to meet needs that had not yet been addressed, such as an infirmary and convalescent home, residences for elderly ladies of respectable social standing and for priests passing through, etc. Among his many other activities, the establishment of a Home for minors who had become mothers should be remembered. Of these works, some of which did not enjoy a long or flourishing existence, there remains the Conservatorio di N. S. del Suffragio e di S. Zita, as the Opera di S. Zita was called from 1876, which houses the Educandato professionale, and the Istituto F. di B. for female teacher trainees; in order to direct it, F. had founded, while still a layman, the Suore Minime di N. S. del Suffragio (1869); and in order to officiate in the church of the same name which he had erected, especially for suffrage for the fallen, with an idea that was new at the time, he received holy orders in 1876.
His scientific contributions (the principal one: Théorie des formes binaires, Turin 1876, especially in the German edition, Leipzig 1881) and his numerous inventions were highly esteemed.
The introduction of the cause of beatification is under study at the Congregation of Rites.