In Pace Christi

He was born on 14 May, 1944, at Vermiglio (Trent), a small country town of 2000 inhabitants at that time, and Bro. Gianni always loved its local traditions and its mountains. The years following the Second World War in northern Italy, close to the Austrian border, were fraught with hardship and Gian Pietro had to move to Trent to attend primary and middle school which he did under the Capuchins. He attended industrial school at the Artigianelli Institute where he learned the printing trade.

In 1965, he entered the Institute. Having completed the novitiate in Florence, he took first vows in 1969 and, since nurses were needed more that printers, he did a course for social-health assistants at Pordenone while he was attending theology school.

In 1973, he went to Ethiopia for the first time, together with a group of young Brothers assigned to that province. His arrival coincided with the time when the development of the Comboni mission in the Vicariate of Hawassa was in full swing. The demands of the mission required the humble but essential service of the Brothers for the construction and maintenance of the mission structures. Bro. Gianni was one of the pioneers of the mission station of Teigha, also in the Vicariate. We must remember his generous service to the local Church in a particularly difficult political context. In fact, under the Marxist Derg regime, movement was restricted with petrol and all sorts of merchandise in short supply. It was not easy for Bro. Gianni, who had to provide building materials – either to find them or transport them: we recall his strong temperament and his serenity despite the fatigue as he covered long distances with the lorry over bad roads, even placing his own personal safety at risk.

From 1982 to 1992 he was in charge of the Centre for the Sick and Elderly in Verona. His abilities are witnessed to, not only by the appreciation of the confreres who remember him during that period, but also by his appointment afterwards to the hospital of Matany, in the diocese of Moroto, in Uganda. He worked there from 1993 to 1998, taking care of the poor and taking care of the financial administration and the personnel of that great structure that required a high degree of administrative ability.

He returned to Ethiopia in 2006, and was entrusted with the provincial administration, because of his consistency and the competence with which he administered goods; there he remained until his death, with the exception of a period of convalescence in Italy (2009-2011).

Among the young Brothers who came to Ethiopia on their first assignments, there were many who praised him while others were left perplexed by his frankness. Bro Gianni wanted the Brothers to excel in transparency, responsibility and sincerity. In all probability, this was due to the fact that, since he found the local language so difficult, he did not spare the new arrivals, criticising their slow progress and insisting on the need to become familiar with the environment and the Ethiopian culture.

He received a great welcome in the Hawassa community for his kindness and his sensitive character. Bro. Gianni loved to spend the evening, after supper, together with the confreres, exchanging ideas and sometimes engaging in animated discussions on the Gospel of the day on the homily given during Mass, or on the topic of Juventus, the football team dearest to his heart.

For some years – he had had various operations – his health had been precarious. Seventy years old, he knew he had to be ready for anything, having recovered from a stroke he had suffered in February 2005. During the night of 6 December, 2015, he suffered another stroke. He would usually give little importance to his condition but this time he agreed to be taken immediately to Addis Abeba for an assessment. He was placed in intensive care: he seemed to be improving and was already insisting about returning to his community. The following day, 8 December, the confreres who went to visit him found him more tired than usual.

While the confreres and the Comboni Sisters were all gathered to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the first day of the Year of Mercy announced by Pope Francis and the conclusion of the Golden Jubilee of the presence of the Comboni Missionaries in the Vicariate of Hawassa, at 18.30. Bro. Gianni gave up his soul to the Father.

Besides the priests, religious and lay-people from the Vicariate of Hawassa, who attended his funeral, there were also present many of those poor people who had knocked at the door of the mission and found a welcome and help from Bro. Gianni. His remains were interred in the Catholic cemetery of Hawassa, as was his desire.

When his death was announced, Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse, Superior General, wrote a letter of goodbye to Bro. Smalzi to thank him for his missionary vocation, his professional attitude, his dedicated service to the sick confreres of the house of Verona and to the many brothers and sisters at the hospital of Matany, in Uganda.

(Fr. Julio Ocaña Iglesias)
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 266 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2016, pp. 138-143.