On Saturday, 17 May 1551, the Vigil of Pentecost, the Barnabites asked young Sauli to carry a large cross through the streets of Milan, dressed as an imperial page, and to preach in public about the love for God and the renunciation of the world.

He continued his formation program until April 26, 1556, when the Fathers felt he was mature enough to be removed from the discipline of the novitiate, and was appointed the community librarian.

[4] When the Grand Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza became seriously ill, his mother, Bona of Savoy, and his wife, Isabella of Naples, made a vow that if he should get well, they would build a church in Pavia in honor of the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary painted on a wall of the Canepanova palace.

[1] Sauli dedicated himself to pastoral work and encouraged frequent communion and the Forty Hours devotion,[2] He founded schools for religious instructions, offered the people lectures on the Letters of St. Paul, and organized groups at the university.

On February 2, 1560, Sauli celebrated the opening Mass of the Holy Spirit and started weekly conferences on St. Paul and daily repetitions of the university subjects which were divided in three groups: theology, philosophy (or medicine) and law.

In presenting Aristotle he used the original Greek version avoiding the poor Latin translation of the time and he himself prepared a lexicon to better understand the terminology.

How innovative Sauli was is shown by the subsidiary subjects that he introduced, such as geometry which "makes the heart attentive and orderly", and law, so that the students could protect themselves in a world engulfed in never ending legal battles.

The rector of the "Artists" (philosophers and doctors), had offered him a chair of philosophy at the university, but the superior, Besozzi, declined without even notifying Sauli.

The subjects selected at random for his exam were: in philosophy, The unity of the creating principle by Peter Lombard and, in theology, the De sacramentis in genere.

The Bishop of Pavia, Ippolito de' Rossi had made him his private theologian,[2] examiner of the clergy, lector for the cases of conscience, and an associate for pastoral visits.

Books at the time were very scarce, so he republished Savonarola's "Confessionale," adapting it to the documents of the Council of Trent, published a treatise on Marriage, an Enchiridion for professors and for those to be ordained, a manual for "Moral Decisions".

On August 5 he had an unpleasant surprise as Attilio Gritti, a gentleman from Novara, presented himself with pontifical documents claiming possession of the Church and House of St. Barnabas.

Sauli immediately contested the claim and the validity of the documents, since Gritti's uncle had donated the church and the house to the Barnabites at the time of Pope Paul III.

When in 1554 the Countess Torelli left the Angelics, taking with her whatever benefits had been given to the monastery, they survived through the generosity of Julia Sfondrati, but with great tension between the two ladies.

Borromeo asked Sauli for the Angelic Sisters of St Paul, and the Jesuit Leonetto Clavonio for the Torelli, to resolve the controversy.

Sauli showed a great balance in his judgment and decision making passing over secondary items to reach the core of the issue.

When Friar Jerome Donati made the famous attempt on Borromemo's life, the Pope suppressed the Order once and for all with a decree signed on 8 February 1571.

In a letter to the Doge of Genoa, Cardinal Cicada wrote: "This morning February 10, 1570, in a Consistory, the Pope has provided for the Church of Aleria in the person of the Rev.

Ormaneto: "Having notified the Superior of St. Barnabas about the decision of Our Lord to give him the care of the Church ofAleria in Corsica, he, for the humble esteem of himself, has stated not to be qualified: which I do not agree with, as I know very well his qualifications....

Writing to his father, Alexander stated: "The effort I have endured here as Superior General seems to me like roses in comparison with what I am starting to experience as a Bishop."

On May 18, 1570, the new Bishop wrote to Cardinal Borromeo in Milan describing the deplorable conditions: He established himself in precarious and humble dwellings and started immediately the visitation of the whole Diocese, entailing great and severe sacrifices, to bring to all the Word of God "like a beneficial rain that the good Lord sends on a field for long time arid and destroyed."

With the passing years he provided his clergy with various booklets of instructions including a simplified edition of the Roman catechism so much praised by St. Francis de Sales.

He founded a seminary in Bastia, and he dedicated himself to all, in spite of his sickness, like malaria and high fever, which few times brought him to the point of death.

On the first Sunday after his entry, he celebrated a solemn pontifical Mass during which, in simple and clear words, he expressed his desire to be the father of the poor, ready to give them whatever he would receive.

After presiding at the ordinations in Bursignano, he reached Colosso d'Asti on October 1, where he spent the day in preaching, catechesis, confirmations, and personal meetings.

Not wanting to disturb the local parish priest, he decided to accept the invitation of his friend, Count Ercole Roero, to stay at his castle.

The two required miracles, certified and approved by a diocesan and apostolic trial, had taken place one in 1899, in Bastia, Corsica, to the 20-year-old Maria Canessa, and the other in Monza, in 1741, during the celebration of his beatification, the cure of a certain Carlo Riva who had been paralyzed for more than a year.

I have been a personal eyewitness of these events.” (James Alfonsi, p. I08) Half Bath “I went once with Bishop Sauli by carriage to St. Mary in Pertica, toward Milan.

We sailed on peacefully until we arrived in Bastia.” (Peter Negri, p. 61-62) Beneficent Hurricane “Twenty-two Turkish galleys were heading toward Campoloro after destroying Sartone and Monticello.

[9] A sculpture, The Blessed Alesandro Sauli, made by Pierre Puget can be found in the Santa Maria Assunta church in Carignano, Genoa.