He was born on 4 April 1884 in San Lorenzo di Fossano, near Cuneo, northern Italy. He was a seminarian in Bra and Alba and was the spiritual director for youth and altar servers in the Alba seminary. While doing nightly Eucharistic adoration in Alba on 31 December 1900 he suddenly felt that he was called to do something for the people of the new century. Alberione died on 26 November 1971 at 6:26 p.m. in the Generalate House, Rome, of natural causes. He was declared venerable on 25 June 1996 and beatified on 27 April 2003 by His Holiness Pope John Paul II.