In Pace Christi

Giovanni was born in Castel d’Azzano (Verona Province) on 28 March 1939; at the age of seventeen, he entered the Gozzano novitiate as a brother candidate and took his first vows on 15 September 1958. He was then immediately sent to Thiene as formator in the minor seminary and then, from dal 1960 to 1965, he worked in Troia as the local bursar.

In 1966, he was assigned to Ethiopia (then Eritrea-Ethiopia) where he spent his whole missionary life, working in various communities – Awasa, Dongora, Tullo, Shafinna and Fullasa – with different duties, but especially that of local bursar and in charge of building.

In 1966, Fr. Bruno Maccani was called to open a new mission in what was still virgin territory in Ethiopia, among the Sidamo people. Bro. Giovanni was with him. At first, the people were curious about them since they did not know the language and it was therefore very difficult to communicate. Using timber and bricks, they built the first small school, with three classrooms. That is how they started! The people began to approach them, learned to trust them and began to send their children to the school. The missionaries tried to combine cultural teaching with religious instruction.

Towards the end of 1968, a delegation from Shafinna – we may read about the beginnings of that mission in Bro. Giovanni’s description published in Raccontiamoci (the newsletter about mission adventures, Castel d’Azzano, n. 21, 2017) – went to the mission of Awassa and asked Fr. Emilio Ceccarini, the head of the mission at the time, to open a school at Kombole, on land already made available by the owners. Then, a short time later, Fr. Ceccarini, together with Fathers Maccani, Lonfernini and Calvi, went to the place and met with the elders of the area. Given the favourable situation and the good dispositions of the people, Fr. Ceccarini agreed to their request but immediately made it clear that there would not only be a school but also a real mission with a church, a dispensary and other services to meet the material and spiritual needs of the people.

Fr. Lorenzo Ceresoli was charged with starting the mission of Shafinna. After a number of formalities, permission was granted to move to the spot at the start of 1970: on 16 February, having loaded the lorry, Bro. Giovanni, with a couple of helpers and preceded by the two Fathers in a pick-up, set out for Shafinna. The journey was awful but they finally arrived at Kombole safe and sound. Their struggles were just beginning: there was little room in the hut so their beds were on top of each other; there was just a table, a small gas stove and a few stools. “We had brought some food with us from Awassa – recounts Bro. Giovanni – and there had to be some coffee. But they had forgotten the sugar! Bro. Magnani, to lighten the mood, remarked that at least we had electricity. Fr Ceresoli had, in fact, bought a battery that was charged by a small generator. We then got to work to set it up but, to our dismay, all the bulbs we had brought had been broken to pieces due to the rough roads! We therefore had to content ourselves with candle light! However, Bro. Magnani would not admit defeat due to these small troubles: we watched him searching in one of the large boxes and take out three intact bottles of dark beer! Joyfully, and giving thanks to God, we drank a toast to honour the opening of the new mission of Shafinna!”

In 2012, Bro. Giovanni returned to Italy for health reasons. He stayed in Brescia until 2015 and then moved to the community of Castel d’Azzano. He died on 27 November 2020, at Negrar hospital (Verona) where he had been admitted due to a Coronavirus infection.