Marco Antonio Durando was born in Mondovì (Cuneo, Italy) on May 22, 1801, in one of the best families of the Piedmontese city. His parents, Giuseppe Antonio, a lawyer, and his wife, Angela Maria Margherita Vinaj, were blessed with eight children. They all received an especially religious education from their mother who was very devout, but their father, a typical liberal of that time and an agnostic, poured his ideas into the three oldest boys who were protagonists of the political and social events during those years. They participated in freemasonry and were the leading figures of the Italian Risorgimento (Unification). Marco Antonio, on the other hand, followed a different path, similar to his youngest brother and sisters.
The root of Blessed Marco Antonio's vocation to the priesthood is found in his passion for missions. In fact, right next to his home were the Missionaries of Saint Vincent who were in charge of a vast field of apostolates in China. Marco Antonio thus entered the Congregation of the Mission and was ordained a priest on June 12, 1824. However, his superiors did not have him leave for China because of his precarious state of health but rather, entrusted him with the popular missions at home. He lavished all his missionary passion upon this ministry, preaching first of all the mercy of God and supporting and spreading the work of the Propagation of Faith, which was instituted in Lyon in 1822.
Appointed Superior of the House of Turin in 1831 and then Provincial in 1837, Fr. Durando was involved in the difficult reorganization of the province to defend it from the prevailing secularism, above all focusing on promoting new vocations. Recognizing the lack in Piedmont of the Daughters of Charity and the works connected with them, such as the Ladies of Charity and the Daughters of Mary, he invited them to leave France for Turin. In 1833, they inaugurated the first assistance work in the city aimed at caring for the sick soldiers of the military hospital, attracting the enthusiastic approval of King Charles Albert. In a few years, the Vincentian Sisters multiplied in number and also increased the number of care operations. Assisted by the Ladies of Charity, they created a real network of assistance centers for the poor in the city. The mind that directed the movement and the spirit that animated it was Fr. Durando together with his Missionaries.
With great courage, he led his Sisters and Missionaries also into Crimea to assist the wounded and sick soldiers on the battlefields. Fr. Marco Antonio was also responsible for the establishment of the Brignole Sale College for Missions, which was inaugurated in 1855 in Genoa with the approval of Superior General Fr. Giovanni Battista Etienne, for the part concerning the Congregation of the Mission, and the help of Marquis Antonio Brignole Sale for the financial aspects. However, the work that best represents the enthusiasm and missionary zeal of Blessed Marco Antonio is the Nazarene Sisters, a community founded by Fr. Durando in 1865. For the mentality of that time, it was an original and courageous initiative: the Nazarene Sisters were in fact entrusted with the task of offering assistance to the sick at home, whether during the day or by night. The fundamental prerogative of the community of the Nazarene Sisters still today is a spirituality that places Jesus Crucified at the center, a figure to be rediscovered and served in every sick person, in every orphan, in every troubled person and the least of society. This extremely heartfelt and engaging religious spirit soon exceeded the boarders of Italy and spread to the distant missions of Madagascar, also inspiring, with the love for those who suffer, numerous vocations among the native population.
Fr. Durando died on December 10, 1880, at the age of 79. His body is buried in the small sanctuary of the Passion inside the Church of the Visitation in Turin, exactly where the first Nazarene Sisters had gathered. On October 20, 2002, Pope John Paul II declared him Blessed.