Luigi Variara was born in 1875 in
Asti to Pietro Variara and Livia Bussa. Variara entered a Salesian Oratory in
Turin at the age of 12 for studies. His father heard
John Bosco preach in 1856 and took Variara to Valdocco to complete his studies; Variara met Bosco for a brief period in 1887 before Bosco died in 1888 and the encounter with Bosco left a deep imprint upon Variara. When the two met, Bosco gazed into Variara which the latter took as a confirmation of his future Salesian vocation, considering Bosco's gaze as the approval for such a decision. After Variara finished high school he asked permission to become a Salesian. Variara joined the
Salesians of Don Bosco on 17 August 1891 and commenced his period of novitiate. Variara underwent philosophical studies at Valsalice where he met the Andrew Beltrami who died not long after; Variara was inspired with Beltrami's docile attitude to his suffering. In 1894 the priest Michele Unia came to look for a cleric to take with him to
Colombia to assist at the Salesian missions for the
lepers. Out of the 188 candidates Unia was most impressed with Variara and the two embarked and arrived in Colombia in
Agua de Dios on 6 August 1894. When Unia chose him out of all others Variara said of it: "I said 'yes', and it seemed to me a dream". He carried out his apostolate in the leper colonies of Agua de Dios in the mission that numbered 2000 people of whom 800 were lepers that he would tend to. Variara was
ordained to the
priesthood in 1898 in Colombia. Variara also served for a period of time as the spiritual director to the Sodality of the Children of Mary. He often served in the confessional booth for around four to five hours. Unia died in 1895 and allowed for Variara to work with his fellow Salesian Father Crippa. In 1905 he established the Father Michele Unia Kindergarten in honor of Unia whom Variara had a great admiration for. Seeing that the lepers and - indeed the children of lepers - could not enter the religious life he decided at the suggestion of Rua to establish a religious congregation to allow them to do so. He also decided to do this with the permission of the
Archbishop of Bogotá Bernardo Herrera Restrepo and formal approval for the establishment allowed for it to be erected as such on 7 May 1905. It received diocesan approval from Restrepo's successor Isamel Perdomo Borrero on 2 October 1930 and the papal decree of praise from
Pope Pius XII in 1952;
Pope Paul VI granted formal pontifical approval on 6 April 1964. In 1919 he was diagnosed to have contracted the disease that he had worked alongside for so long; this diagnosis proved to be quite inaccurate. In 1921 he agreed to go to
Tariba in
Venezuela but arrived in poor health. The doctors there that attended to him requested he go back to Colombia to
Cucuta. He died in 1923 in Cucuta; his remains were transferred to Agua de Dios in 1932 where he now rests. ==Legacy==