Chiesa del Corpus Domini Torino

In 1827 Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo was one of the canons of Corpus Domini, an unsatisfied priest. Called at the "Old Customs" inn to assist a young patient and at the end of pregnancy, he saw her die. Upset, he went to pray in the church of Corpus Domini and understands his new mission: to assist the sick, the homeless, the rejected by society. His motto became "Caritas Christi urget nos": the love of Christ urges us. A few months later the rooms at the Volta Rossa house, in via Palazzo di Città 19, become the embryo of the Piccola Casa, in Borgo Dora, where it will move in 1832, following the protests of the inhabitants of the center, scared by the presence of a small hospital that they considered a source of contagion.