Clemente Marchisio was born in Racconigi on 1st March 1833 into a deeply Christian family. He heard the Lord’s call to become a priest at an early age and in 1856 he received the sacrament of Holy Orders.
From that moment onwards he made of his life a gift for others. He made every effort in taking care of souls and in preaching. With ardent zeal, invincible fearlessness and contagious enthusiasm, he followed the plans of Divine Providence that made him aware of society’s greatest wounds, just as it was for other priests, his contemporaries like Giovanni Bosco, Giuseppe Allamano and Leonardo Murialdo.
Later on however, during some of the missions, he became painfully aware of how the churches, the scaristies and the sacred vestments were not fitting and worthy of the Lord and above all, the matter of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, used by Jesus Christ himself, that is the bread made of wheat and wine from fruit of the grape, were not always pure and incorrupt and valid for the Sacraments. At this point he had to reshuffle his cards. He gathered the first group of nuns and invited them to dedicate their life to the Lord present in the Holy Eucharist , worthy of praise, to be served and above all loved.To the nuns he said:
“You shall be called The Daughters of Saint Joseph because, in imitation of this great saint, you shall be the GUARDIANS of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and lead a holy life like the Holy Family of Nazareth. You shall look to them and do all in your power to practise the virtues present in that Holy Home.”