FRANCO, SECONDO. — Jesuit, preacher, born at Turin on 22 January 1817, died there on 10 November 1893. He preached the word of God assiduously in all its forms at Massa Carrara, Bastia, Trento, Florence, Venice, and Rome, always with great fruit, combating the errors of those exceedingly difficult times. Particularly memorable were the missions he conducted for four consecutive years in the Italian Tyrol. He was expelled from Florence in 1859 for speaking frankly against the revolution. He was superior at Turin (1869–82); then rector and novice master at Chieri (1883–86), and again superior at Turin until his death.
His works, which even today continue the effectiveness of his preaching, were collected in 17 vols. (Modena 1883–89) and contain sermons, panegyrics, and treatises on apologetics and asceticism. The following deserve particular mention: On Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Rome 1854); Popular Answers to the Most Common Objections against Religion (2 vols., Turin 1859), repeatedly republished and translated into almost all the languages of Europe; The Month of May, Consecrated to the Blessed Virgin (Venice 1865); The Month of June, Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Turin 1875); The Heart of Mary. Considerations (Modena 1882); The Supernatural, or the Christian’s Riches (Modena 1887); The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius (2 vols., Turin 1892). What constitutes F.’s particular merit is his fluid and clear style, the force of his reasoning, his frank timeliness, and above all the warmth and unction that animate his pages. A man pre-eminently gifted for giving counsel and a consoler of the poor, he imbued his piety with an intimate devotion to the Sacred Heart.