The Institute of the Missionaries of St. Charles planned to prepare missionaries in Piacenza and send them to the Americas. On November 28^th, 1887 the first two missionaries, Fr Giuseppe Molinari and Fr Domenico Mantese, promised Scalabrini to observe the provisional regulations and to dedicate themselves to the pastoral care of migrants in America, for at least five years. The Congregation, endowed with five-year and perpetual religious vows, spread mainly in the United States and Brazil. In memory of the departure of the first missionaries, there is a monument in the church of St Antonino, specifically in the chapel of St Opilio,

sculpted by Paolo Perotti from Piacenza in 1968: it depicts the bishop donating the Crucifix in the urban basilica to the first missionaries who left for the Americas in 1887 to spread the Gospel among migrants.

The inscription at the bottom reads: ON NOVEMBER 28th, 1887 ON THE TOMB OF THE HOLY MARTYR ANTONINO/ THE SERVANT OF GOD JOHN BAPTIST SCALABRINI RECEIVING THE/ TOTAL DONATION OF THE FIRST PRIESTS CONTINUED IN THE CHURCH/ THE PERENNIAL OFFERING OF THE MARTYRS TO CHRIST FOR THE DIFFUSION/ OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE ITALIAN EMIGRANTS STARTED THE/ CONGREGATION OF THE MISSIONARIES OF SAINT CHARLES/ THE SCALABRINIANS NOVEMBER 28TH, 1968