“The Missionary Servants of the Poor will grow and put down deep roots if it remains in God and seeks the eternal salvation of the poor.”
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
“Who serves the poor lends to God” (Prv 19:17)
Year of Birth
Year of Death
The human sorrow the heart feels on the loss of a Father, a founder and, for many, a great friend and confidant cannot overshadow the joy of the blessing of his person, the example of his missionary journey, the strength of the passion with which he lived his vocation. He wanted to take on the role of servant in the biblical sense, that is, an authentic lover of God. We can apply to him the title that he himself wanted to serve as the compass that would guide the way of living the Gospel of the Missionary Servants of the Poor: servant of God, servant of the Church, and servant of the poor.
Making real the charism through:
- Service to God, fed by prayer
- Service to the Church, the fruit of love of obedience
- Service to the poor, seeking Christ in them
- With a deep devotion of the Eucharist
- With a desire for continuous conversión
My only desire is Heaven
1938
Father Giovanni Salerno was born in Gel (in the Sicilian province of Caltanisetta, Italy. His parents were Nicolá Salerno and Angela Legname.
1940
Giovanni is little more than a year old when Italy enters Word War II on the side of Hitler’s Germany.
1943
Father Giovanni Salerno dreams of Holy Mary Mother of the Poor who is accompanied by children from different continents.
1946
He makes his First Holy Communion at 8 years old. “I asked for three things that day: to be a priest, to be a doctor, and to be a missionary. And the Lord heard me.”
1949
At 11 years old, Giovanni enters the Augustinian seminary in Palermo. “I was happy! I felt the Lord was calling me to be a priest.”
1957
Three ophthalmologists agree in the diagnosis that he would be blind within a few years. “But I believed firmly in my vocation.”
1957-1961
He studies theology in the archdiocesan seminary in Monreale, Palermo.
1961
On December 23, Fr. Giovanni is ordained a priest. “On kissing my hands, my mother said, ‘May these hands save many children!’”
1962
Wanting to serve the poor, Father Giovanni began his studies in missionary medicine.
1966
Father Giovanni, at the request of his superior, volunteers to go to the Chuquibambilla mission in Peru along with seven others.
1968
Having arrived in the missionary territory of Peru and observing the sad situation of the sick, Father Salerno begins to establish clinics.
1969
The children of the mountains lived a real via crucis. Then I heard within me, “Didn’t I make you to help these children?”
1970-1981
He travleed on horseback through the Andean mountains evangelizing the many poor people who came to him thirsty to hear the Word of God.
1982
Inauguration of the Saint Teresa Home. I was afraid for that foundation, but I had a vision of the Child Jesus Who told me, “Receive Me in these children.”
1982
He met with Sr. Lucia (the little shepherd of Fatima) and with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who encouraged him to continue forward with his foundation.
1984
He met the Archbishop of Toledo, Spain, Card. Marcelo González, who opened the doors of his diocese and encouraged him to form future priests.
1986
Fr. Giovanni was received in a private audience by Pope Saint John Paul II who told him, “This is really the ‘Opus Christi Salvatoris Mundi’!”
1986-2015
Father fully dedicated himself to giving life to the charism that God had inspired in him, remaining always faithful to the Church.
2015
Father Giovanni Salerno decided to resign as Superior General and volunteered to go to Cuba.
2017
Father left Cuba and returned to Lima. Of this time Father said, “I spend the entire day in prayer.”
2023
“Come and take me with you, my Mother!” The Blessed Virgin took him in her arms on the first Saturday of the month.
What Father Giovanni left us
Dear ones, I received with great joy your decisión to gather memories and testimonies on the life of Father Giovanni Salerno.
Angelo Cardinal Comastri
Vicar General Emeritus of His Holiness for Vatican City
His words and thoughts still live among us
Love for the Movement
To lead this young MSP family forward, I am willing to make any sacrifice, to suffer all kinds of humiliations, to give even my life.
The love of God is the source of loving the poor
You can’t serve the poor if you are not already full of God.
Love for children
I would like to have a thousand lives and always as a priest, to save as many orphaned and abandoned children as possible.
Giving our surplus to the poor isn’t enough
We must give the poor ourselves, our time, our lives.
Contemplatives in action
The Missionary Servants of the Poor, first of all, must know how to recognize Christ in the poor. We welcome, heal and assist only one child: Jesus.
Love to pray the Holy Rosary
Never leave the Rosary to the end of the day. The Virgin deserves the best minutes of our day!
Let’s pray and sacrifice for his
eternal rest
The best work of charity that we can do is to pray for his soul and ask God to help us serve the poor more each day
