PAVONI, LODOVICO, venerable. – Founder of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception, born in Brescia on 17 September 1784; died there on 1 April 1849.
Of keen intellect, he added to his literary studies those of painting, architecture, the mechanical arts, and the sciences, almost as though foreseeing his future foundation. Ordained a priest in 1807, he made himself available for five years to parish priests for whatever ministry was required, while at the same time devoting himself to the good of many oratories, in which he served as founder or director. In 1817 he was appointed a canon of Brescia Cathedral, and in 1818 rector of the church of S. Barnaba. He then opened beside the church a house where orphaned or abandoned boys could be gathered and offered a school of arts and trades, so that, together with religion, they might also learn how to earn a living. The work gradually expanded, so that in 1836 it also received orphans left by the plague; and in 1840, at a separate location, deaf-mute boys and youths. To consolidate and secure the work, he founded a new congregation of priests and laymen, which he wished to call the «Sons of the Immaculate Conception»; the former for the spiritual direction of the young, the latter for directing the workshops. He remained its superior general until his death, extending the field of his zeal also into neighboring dioceses, and supporting preaching with good publications. The reputation for holiness that he enjoyed during his life and after his death led to the institution of his beatification process (1919).