It was March 14, 1878.
George Medico, Peter Biamino, Joseph Rey and Vincent Franco are the names of the first four young men who, in Asti in Piedmont, began our religious family of the Oblates of St. Joseph. To them can be applied the Psalm: "Blessed the one who finds in You his strength and decides in his heart the Holy Journey" (83:6). March 14 was Thursday of the first week of Lent, and there was Eucharistic adoration that afternoon, led by Fr. Joseph Marello, in the Church called the Gesù in the Michelerio Orphanage. There was no ceremony nor a special prayer. Only a beginning.
George was 23 years old and was from Castello d'Annone. Peter from Montemarzo, 20 years old, was an orphan who had been accepted into the Michelerio, as was Joseph from San Damiano who was 17 years old. Vincent instead was a labourer who worked in the Michelerio and was 43 years old. George also was orphaned of his father, who had died a hero years earlier in Castello d'Annone by successfully saving a man trapped by the flames of fire, while he was seriously burned. Stories about people from the countryside, whom the Lord brings to a deeper and holier experience with him: that of “His community”. That day was born God’s supernatural place, the “house of St. Joseph”. Fr. Joseph Marello, dreaming at that moment, had written: “Whoever desires to follow closely the Divine Master is welcome to the House of St. Joseph. Withdrawing therein with the resolve to remain hidden and silently active in imitation of that great Model of a poor and obscure life, he will have an opportunity to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.” There began that first experience of “house”. Not alone but together in order to be true disciples of Jesus. The invitation and the challenge of that day continue to this day.

Their life
The Lord made use of St. Joseph Marello to bring them together. He had true and proper daily spiritual conferences with them, speaking to them of St. Joseph, so that in their daily life, spiritually united with this great saint, they could live in the presence of the Lord, with obedience like his, industriousness, humility, hidden life and abandonment into the hands of God who is Providence. Another priest, Father Garetti, a theologian, came almost every day to teach them the catechism, the truth that the Lord Jesus, who is Truth, has revealed and expressed in his Church. They were untied to the Lord through the daily Eucharist. They prayed together the psalms, hymns and readings that make up the office of Our Lady, spread throughout the various hours of the day. They went together to visit Jesus in the Eucharist and they prayed the rosary. In short, seven times a day they went into the Church called the Gesù. Their hearts and their speech were united to the Lord, in various forms and expressions: St. Joseph Marello took much to heart the supernatural “tone” of directing oneself to a person, beginning by saying: “Praised be Jesus Christ”, and making the sign of the cross when leaving home, and live the presence of Jesus, and so to be capable of listening and of silence in order to love fully Him and remain in that silence which serves to remain in His Love.

Work and home
They passed their day as assistants, “directors” is the contemporary name, of forty children and teens in the different areas, departments and workshops of the orphanage, and also worked as teacher in tailoring, shoemakers, typesetters, and when the need arose also as doorkeepers, orchard workers and handymen. Their home, on the left side of the orphanage’s courtyard, was only one room, six meters by four, which served as their study, workshop and refectory. A chest of drawers and two curtains across the room served to form a wall, dividing it into an area for visitors and another area for their “cloister”. There was no tablecloth on the table, the dishes were terracotta and painted black as was used in the countryside; a picture of St. Joseph on the wall, without a frame