Giuseppe Marchetti was born on 3 October 1869 in Lombrici di Camaiore in the
Lucca province as the second of eleven children to Angelo Marchetti (17 October 1846 – 26 April 1893) and Carola Ghilarducci (13 December 1850-22 February 1927). In 1880 the Marchetti's relocated to Mulino di Camaiore so that his father could begin working as a miller, though he later died from pneumonia. In his childhood Marchetti liked reading the
Psalms in the
Bible and also was known for having read and liked
The Imitation of Christ which he kept with him at most times. He distinguished himself in his ecclesial studies and later received his
ordination to the
priesthood on 3 April 1892 from the
Archbishop of Lucca Nicola Ghilardi, before being appointed as the pastor for
Compignano di Massarosa; he was first assigned to teach
French to
seminarians but this task was made brief so that he could begin pastoral work. He carried out his duties there as a pastor until he attended a conference in which
Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (the
Bishop of Piacenza) spoke about Italian
emigrants who were moving abroad. He decided from that point that he would collaborate with Scalabrini and the two set to work on how best to guide and support Italian emigrants. He often accompanied immigrants to the port in
Genova to see them off, but decided that it was not enough to help them. Marchetti decided to focus on Brazil while Scalabrini – despite his own pastoral obligations in
Piacenza – would focus on the
United States. He undertook his first trip to Brazil from the Genova port on 15 October 1894, that lasted until December, and would later make a second trip in 1895 (serving as a chaplain on both trips) that confirmed to him the need to move to Brazil to better respond to his mission. That second trip saw a mother die aboard the ship "Julius Caesar" leaving her months-old daughter and husband. This episode proved to Marchetti the need to expand his care for both emigrants and children. It was after he arrived at
São Paulo that he oversaw the establishment of an
orphanage for the protection of abandoned children in 1895. Marchetti also invited his sister Assunta in 1895 to help him in his mission in Brazil and he would also go on to co-found alongside her the Scalabrinian Sisters. His sister would arrive in Brazil alongside their mother and two others, though their mother returned to their homeland in 1897. He later made his religious profession on 25 October 1895 in Piacenza into the hands of Scalabrini in the presence of his sister. Marchetti died on 14 December 1896 in São Paulo after having contracted
typhoid fever as he tended to an ill woman on her deathbed, whose
confession he went to go and hear. His remains are buried in São Paulo. ==Beatification process==