Michael Rua

Michele Rua (; 9 June 1837 – 6 April 1910) was an Italian Catholic priest and professed member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. Rua was a student under Don Bosco and was also the latter's first collaborator in the order's founding as well as one of his closest friends. He served as the first Rector Major of the Salesians following Bosco's death in 1888. He was responsible for the expansion of the Salesians and the order had grown to a significant degree around the world at the time he died. Rua served as a noted spiritual director and leader for the Salesians known for his austerities and rigid adherence to the rule. It was for this reason that he was nicknamed "the living rule".

The process of Rua's beatification opened after his death and resulted in Rua being beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1972. Michael Rua; Valentino Cassini; standing: Seminarian Joseph Oreni; Coadjutor Nicholas Imielinski

Rua was a constant companion of Bosco on his trips and became the vicar for the congregation in 1865. On 24 September 1885 he was designated as Bosco's successor after the saint made the explicit request to Pope Leo XIII himself though would not succeed him until Bosco died. and visited both Algeria and Portugal in 1899. In 1900 he visited Tunisia and in 1904 visited Belgium as well as Switzerland and Poland; he later visited Malta in 1906. He visited Jerusalem and Palestine in 1908 and also to Austria. The formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius XI on 15 January 1936 and Rua became titled as a Servant of God.

The current postulator for Rua's cause of canonization is the Salesian priest Pierluigi Cameroni.