In Pace Christi

Born at Recoaro on 14 April, 1928, he took first vows in 1950 and perpetual vows in 1956. He was ordained priest in Milan in 1957. While he was in Portugal from 1957 to 1960, preparing to leave for the mission in Mozambique, he showed the first signs of cardiac insufficiency and for that reason he was kept in the District of the Curia from 1960 onwards.

We wish to underline three important aspects of the life of Fr. Giusto, outlined by Fr. Pietro Ravasio in his testimony.

Fidelity and silence. For decades he was private secretary to the Superiors General (1960-1995); it was a task which, even if it was devoid of great satisfaction, Fr. Giusto carried out in humility and silence, in absolute trustworthiness and discretion…

From 1960 to 1970, he was also bursar of the community and would go out every day to celebrate Mass for a community of Sisters. He drew much consolation from this ministry – he could not do more on account of his poor health. He would also help with hearing confessions at the church of the Good Shepherd at Montagnola (Rome).

Dealing with benefactors on behalf of the community of the Curia. As he carried out this office, beyond the substantial benefits which derived from it to the Curia community and the sponsorship of projects coming to him from different mission territories, Fr. Giusto loved his benefactors and was loved by them in turn. There are various testimonies concerning the change of life that took place in people who met him. His quiet nature made him the custodian of the affairs of many families who responded to him with complete confidence and who will now feel a great sense of loss.

To suffer with Christ to be glorified with Him. For the past ten years, Fr. Pietro concelebrated with him in the ‘choir loft’ of the chapel of the Generalate. Fr. Giusto celebrated the Mass with deep devotion, even though seated, by which he showed that his constant weakness made him belong to Christ with his sick body by which he was conformed to him.

His sufferings gave rise not only to the conviction that “the temporary and light burden of our tribulations brings us unmeasured and eternal glory” (2 Cor 4. 17) but also, here and now, pure joy. In the community he was often the bringer of this joy and the centre of attention due to his good nature. He liked to joke and, with a play on his own name, he often called himself the only “Just One” in the whole Institute.

Fr. Giusto died on 16 October, at the age of 85, at the Motherhouse in Verona where he had stayed for some months undergoing treatment.
Fr. Jorge O. García Castillo, in his homily at the funeral said that Fr. Giusto loved life and liked to celebrate it; he always celebrated his birthday. He was a man of faith and a man of prayer which he nourished also with pious practices. Every afternoon, he would sit at the back of the chapel and recite the Rosary with other people or confreres. He would then wait to take part in the Mass which he would offer for the benefactors of the Institute.

He shared his faith and his prayer with many others, especially at the Good Shepherd parish where he ministered for thirty years. Even after he had ceased to go to the parish, people remembered him with great affection.

In his own way, Fr Giusto also carried out excellent missionary animation as he kept in touch with our benefactors. He only recently gave up this activity. I say “In his own way” because he never really entered the world of technology. He kept in touch by post, telephone calls, by sending out literature, Easter and Christmas greetings. In this way, without grabbing the headlines, he did great work to realise the “globalisation of solidarity”, especially towards the most remote and neediest brothers and sisters. He encouraged them to become part of the missionary charism.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 258 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2014, pp. 108-112.