In Pace Christi

“I have never owned anything and I own nothing now except my personal things; I am happy to be poor and to have been born poor. Our Lord could not have done more for me by giving me the greatest gift of all, the gift of life and also the gift of his priesthood. I thank God for parents who, despite their material poverty, taught me the first steps in the Christian faith and to hope for a better life, life eternal. If God should call me to himself here in the mission, let my body rest here among my people whom I have sought to serve and to love all these years; If instead I am called by God while in Italy, I would prefer, if it is not too much trouble, to be laid to rest in the cemetery of Velate, the town which welcomed me as a young man and helped me to grow in faith, the place where I discovered the call to the missionary priesthood”. Fr. Gianmario wrote these words in a letter to his friends on 20 June 1987 from Moyale (Kenya). This availability and tact, together with a degree of shyness, accompanied him all his life.

On 22 June 1964, already seventeen, he wrote from Velate Milanese asking to enter the seminary of the Comboni Missionaries. He joined the Venegono novitiate and, on 17 May 1975, he took temporary vows. He was then sent to Elstree, in England, for the scholasticate and made his final vows at Edgware, London, on 28 April 1978. He was ordained priest on 16 September 1978 in the parish church of the Sacred Heart in Brescia, then in the care of the Combonis. He was appointed to work in Italy and went to Pesaro as vocations promoter. He also spent two years in Sulmona as bursar and formator.

In 1979 he was assigned to the province of Kenya where he stayed for seventeen years, first at Naivasha and then at Sololo, Moyale and Kacheliba. In 1993 he took part in the renewal Course in Rome.

In 2000 he returned to Italy suffering from a heart condition and stayed in Brescia until 2005, engaged in ministry and, in the final months of that year, as superior of the community. He was then sent to Rebbio to assist in looking after elderly confreres, a post which he filled with his usual availability and sensitivity until the end of 2013. In 2014, due to a worsening of his heart condition, he stayed at the Centre for sick and elderly confreres where he died on 23 August 2018. Those who visited him during those years – especially Fr. David Glenday and Fr. Francesco Chemello, companions of his in Elstree – were struck by how serenely he accepted his illness.

From among the many testimonies we received, we give here a small part of that of Lorot Salem, a Kenyan High Court lawyer and member of the legal Council of the National Assembly of Kenya who, like others, was assisted in his studies by Fr. Vimercati.

“The life of Fr. Gianmario at Kacheliba irradiated the light of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He was polite, compassionate and humble and in all his relations he was a diligent servant of God. He did not speak much but through his silence and his actions he was able to give me many important lessons in Christianity. He would share with us his experiences and gave us hope.

When he left Kacheliba to go to Italy we felt very sad and we prayed very much that Fr. Gianmario could one day return. I have kept my Baptism certificate that Fr. Gianmario signed personally. I have many beautiful memories of a man, a priest, who came into our lives, unselfishly serving in our midst. If he is ever to read these words of mine, we want to say: ‘asante sana’ (many thanks)”.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 278 Suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2019, pp.88-92.