March 27--Bl. Francesco Faà di Bruno, Priest and Founder

Faà di Bruno’s Formula

“Science and faith do not mix.” Wrong! We have many giants of science and mathematics who were faithful members of the Catholic Church, including Galileo, Pasteur, Mendel, Copernicus, Pascal, Bacon, and ​​Lemaître, who developed the Big Bang Theory. We can also include today’s saint, Bl. Francesco Faà di Bruno, among them as a mathematician for whom Faà di Bruno’s Formula is named. Born in northern Italy in 1825 to parents of nobility, he had a wide-ranging career as an army officer, a professor of mathematics and recipient of a Doctor of Science degree from the Universities of Paris and Turin, a friend of St. John Bosco, social reformer, and overseer of the construction of a church in Turin, Italy. However, that was not enough for him! He discerned a vocation to the priesthood and was finally ordained at age 51. He founded the Minim Sisters of St. Zita in 1881 to provide aid to maids and domestic servants, later unmarried mothers, and then, prostitutes.

Pope St. John Paul II said of him in his beatification homily: “He used to say: ‘Giving oneself to God is equivalent to giving oneself to a superior activity, which drags us along like the swollen and tumultuous waters of a raging torrent. . .’. From the love for God came that love for ‘neighbor’, which pushed Francesco Faà di Bruno onto the path of the poor, the humble, the defenseless, making him a giant of faith and charity. Thus was born a whole series of works and welfare activities which are not easy to list. Even in the scientific field he was able to bear his coherent testimony as a believer, in a period in which dedication to science seemed incompatible with a serious commitment to faith.” Science and faith DO mix! Bl. Francesco, pray for us!