In Pace Christi

“Now I am at peace. However, we shall see. One way or another, my situation must be resolved”. Bro. Alessandro spoke these words to me on Sunday, 20 January 2008, having made his confession with great serenity and peace. It was to be his last in a life lived deeply as a good religious and missionary. He had agreed to be admitted to the CAA of Milan, unaware that he would breathe his last on one of those beds which he himself had bought when he was bursar and had to procure all the equipment for the infirmary. I got to know Bro. Alessandro in the novitiate, in 1947, where he was known for the diligence with which he applied to everything he did.

His parents, Pietro and Bianca, “heartbroken at the sacrifice it involved but content to receive the great grace which God gave us”, in August 1945 gave their seventeen-year-old son, qualified in mechanical drawing, permission to become a Comboni Missionary. Some years later, he would write that is vocation was one of many graces given to him by Our Lady.

Having completed his novitiate, he took his first vows in December 1947. He was then assigned to Verona and then to Venegono and Gozzano: he spent about a year in each of these houses, from 1947 to 1950, looking after the house, the laundry and working in vocations promotion. From 1950 to 1953 he was formator in the minor seminary at Thiene. He studied English for a year in London and was appointed to South Sudan, first teaching at Torit (1954-1959), then at Rejaf for one year with the “Apostles of Jesus” and, from 1960 to 1964, at Juba as formator in the seminary. Mgr. Sisto Mazzoldi had a high degree of confidence in his exactness and trustworthiness, not only in the liturgical preparation of solemn celebrations, but also for the positive effect he had on the seminarians. This was why he entrusted him with the formation of the African brother candidates of the Institute he founded, the Institute of St. Martin de Porres. Then, in 1964, there occurred the expulsion of all the missionaries from South Sudan.

The superiors, taking into account his missionary experience, decided to entrust Bro. Alessandro with the formation of the Brothers (CIF) at Pordenone (1964-1973) and then appointed him superior of the same community (1973-1981). The latter post, not foreseen by the Rules of the Institute (a clerical Institute), required a rescript from propaganda Fide which empowered the Institute “to appoint lay Brothers as superiors of local communities or as Vicars in some specified houses, devoted exclusively to the formation of Brothers.”

Of the many reflections sent regularly by Bro. Alessandro to the General Council, we may quote one which is very apt even today: “I believe that it must be the mission which has to guide us to discover the requirements and planning of the formation journey the Brothers ought to have.”

From 1982 to 1992 he was bursar at Venegono, then the seat of the novitiate, where Alessandro also worked in vocations promotion. He then went to Milan where he had the task of fitting out the new C.A.A., then under construction. In a letter to Fr. Vittorio Moretto, Vicar General, he wrote: “I believe and I am most convinced that it is not the walls which render a centre for the sick efficient and human but rather the people who are called to assist them”. In this post, in order to obtain the grant from the Region of Lombardy, he had to employ all his ability and patience.

He spent the last years of his life in Rebbio, at the house for elderly confreres. I saw Bro. Alessandro again on the morning of 22 January 2008, the day he died, while I was passing through Milan with a confrere. He told me he felt very unwell. We prayed together and I tried to raise his spirits, telling him he would soon be better. He was glad to receive my blessing. He now rests in peace at Oggiono, his home town in Alta Brianza.

He was buried in the chapel reserved for priests and religious of the town.
(Fr. Tarcisio Agostoni)
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 238 suppl. In Memoriam, aprile-luglio 2008, pp. 52-55.