In Pace Christi

All those who have followed Fr. Giovanni in his long and painful illness were foreseeing that he would die on a meaningful date. Thus, it seemed that he was going to die on the feast of the Assumption, then on 12 September (Name of Mary). The next important date was the feast of St. Daniel Comboni, and that was the day he passed away, crowning a life spent in the Institute he deeply loved and in the missions, which were always present in his mind throughout the days and years of suffering.
Born in Barlassina (Milan) in a large and well known family, on 1 October 1944 his parents introduced him to the Institute with this peculiar note: “In sorrow for the great sacrifice… we give to you, Lord, our beloved son so that, according to your will, he may become father and shepherd of many souls…” After completing his primary school, he had attended a technical school and then had entered the seminaries of Seveso and Venegono Inferiore of the archdiocese of Milan. He started his novitiate with the Comboni Missionaries in Venegono Superiore on 14 October 1944 and took his first vows on 15 August 1946. His health soon began to affect his studies, and from the scholasticate in Rebbio (1946-1948) he moved to Arco for medical reasons (1948-1950). He then returned to Venegono (1950-1951) and then back to Arco (1951-1952). In October 1952 he arrived in Rome where he found a climate that better suited his health. He completed his theological studies at the Urbaniana. In the scholasticate community of St. Pancrazio he was of good example to all and promoted unity, thanks to his kind and understanding character. He was ordained priest in Rome on 9 April 1955.
He was assigned to basic formation by his superiors as spiritual director first at Carraia (1955-1958) and later at Brescia (1958-1965). He felt the weight of his role and, fearing of not being up to it, he asked to be relieved of this responsibility. In this way he was able to dedicate himself to pastoral ministry (Milan, Via Saldini), which greatly pleased him and for which he was loved and appreciated. Those years (1965-1974) were interrupted only once by a stint as associate to the master of novices in Gozzano (1966-1969). During the summer of 1974 he was called to Rome to assist in the renewal course. Also in this role he was well liked by all because he understood the expectations and the needs of his confreres. In 1977, however, he contracted trigeminal neuralgia, which progressively incapacitated him and lasted, between one treatment and another, up to his final day: 27 years as a missionary marked by pain.
There was a search for suitable places that could provide specific treatments for his illness until 1978, when he reached Civenna (Como) and the Oasis of the Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa. Here he stayed until a week before his death. Juridically he belonged to the Curia community till July 1988, when he was assigned to the Italian province, as he was near to the community of Rebbio.
There was always an extensive dialogue between Fr. Giovanni and his superiors and between these and the Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa. In 1982 the Sisters’ Superior General wrote from Turin to the Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries: “I wish to assure you once again about our dear Fr. Giovanni Morazzoni, whom I know personally and whose submission to the will of God and interior richness I have had the opportunity to appreciate on several occasions: gifts he knows how to share with all those who meet him. Having him staying with us is a grace we all appreciate.” Also the superior of Civenna wrote among other things: “Fr. Giovanni’s illness is serious and the doctor has given you a report personally. In all sincerity, there are days when Fr. Giovanni, even though wanting to be healed, looks truly pitiful… despite all this he is serene and cheerful. What an example for us… We will continue to do all that will be necessary because truly, as our Superior General has told us, he is a gift of God.”
The interior picture of Fr. Giovanni can be summed up in the core of a letter he wrote from Civenna in 1978 to Fr. Tarcisio Gastonia, Superior General: “I am keeping up my treatment for trigeminal neuralgia; the Lord gives me great inner peace; I place myself in his hands to be a missionary as he wants me to be, wishing only to be of service to the world, the Church and the Institute… not according to my plans but to His, which may consist in showing His power through my extreme weakness. I keep to the treatment, naturally, but without becoming obsessed over my health; I do the little I can do and leave it to Him to carry through what I can’t… At time I have doubts: Is this kind of ‘spirituality’ merely an alibi? But then I tell the Lord: ‘You know of my desire to work even physically, if I had the strength!’ In any case, I trust in obedience to be sure that I am on the right path.”
Fr. Pietro Ravasio.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 226 suppl. In Memoriam, aprile 2005, pp. 40-50.