MURIALDO, Leonardo, Servant of God. - Founder of the Pious Society of St. Joseph of Turin (Giuseppini), b. in Turin on 26 Oct. 1828, d. there on 30 May 1900. Educated first at Savona, with the Piarists, he entered in 1845 the Seminary of Turin for ecclesiastical studies, concluded with a degree in theology. Attached to the clergy of the church of S. Maria di Piazza, he was ordained a priest on 21 Sept. 1851: he immediately devoted himself to the apostolate of poor youth, gathered in the Oratory of the Guardian Angels, opened in 1840 by G. Cocchi, and in that of St. Louis, founded by St. John Bosco, to whom he offered himself as a companion in work in the assistance and instruction of boys. In 1866 he was appointed rector of the Opera degli Artigianelli, begun by the same d. G. Cocchi, to welcome poor and abandoned young people and to give them, along with Christian education, instruction in some art or trade that would provide for their future.
M. devoted himself to it with all his zeal: he sought alms to sustain the work; he brought the young people to a notable frequency of the Sacraments, forming them to a strong character and turning them away from crooked paths. Of his disciples many became religious and about 80 secular priests. To increase the merits of the companions who had joined him with the bond of religious vows, he founded the Pious Society of St. Joseph, inaugurated on 19 March 1873. The new Institute received archiepiscopal approval on 14 Febr. 1875, the decree of praise in 1890; apostolic confirmation on 1 Aug. 1904. M. was elected its superior general. As the religious increased in number, to the various houses already founded and flourishing many others were added in Italy and abroad, designated by various titles to indicate their particular and immediate purpose: oratories, patronages, colleges, orphanages, apostolic schools, agricultural schools, family homes. M. furthermore wished to concern himself with visits to the sick and to prisoners; with awakening and rekindling institutions of charity; above all he cooperated effectively with associations of Catholic Action and committees directed to the good of the people; in particular he was the soul of the Association «La buona stampa», instituted to awaken, print and disseminate papers and pamphlets in defense of religion against errors, especially of Jansenism.