Caring for the sick was a familiar concern for Luigi Tezza early in his childhood. As a child, Luigi, born in 1841 in Conegliano (Italy), he usually accompanied his father, a doctor, on his sick calls. However, at age eight Luigi experienced the death of his father.

To obtain better education for her young son, the mother moved to Padua. After initial contacts with the Camillians in Verona, Luigi began his novitiate there. His mother, Caterina Tezza, gave away all her possessions to the poor and entered the convent of the Salesian Sisters.

Luigi Tezza was ordained in 1864. He experienced the politically motivated expulsion of the Order from Northern Italy. He expressed preference to join a missionary venture in Africa. But his superior decided differently. He was called to Rome in 1869.

Two years later he was appointed Novice Master in France where he became the first provincial of the French Province in 1877. In 1880 he was expelled from France due to religious persecution. He returned to Rome.

In the following years, following his encounters with a group of receptive single women led by Giuseppina Vannini, he initiated the founding of the congregation of the "Daughters of St. Camillus."

The Order assigned other tasks to him. He was sent to Spain and then to France. In 1900 he was sent to Lima, Peru to introduce reform to the religious life of the Camillians there.

In his characteristic way, Fr. Tezza assumed his tasks with zest and with all his energies. Yet he kept hoping to return to Europe.

But such was not the case. As hospital chaplain, day after day he visited the sick in the hospitals of Lima. Becoming popular because of his patience and sensitivity, he was tasked to be the confessor of the seminaries in the city, and mainly also in the diocesan seminary.

His advice and multi-faceted wisdom and experiences were very much in demand. He was also asked to assist in the administration of the diocese.

Despite his multiple tasks, Fr. Tezza never forgot the sick. In the spirit of St. Camillus he felt compelled to serve them. As for the congregation he founded, he managed to maintain contact only through letters. Yet he remained like a father who constantly cared for the congregation.

At his death in 1923 in Lima, he earned veneration as the "Apostle of Lima." The Church declared him Blessed on November 4, 2001.

Blessed Father Luigi, help me to carry out the tasks that are meant for me in this world with courage and faith.