In Pace Christi

Graziadio (better known as Graziano) was born in Caselle di Sommacampagna (Verona) on 4^th May 1942, to Angelo and Assunta Bonesini. He attended elementary school in the village. In 1953 he entered the episcopal seminary of Roverè Veronese. It’s no surprise: his brother Cesare was already in a Comboni seminary, determined to become a missionary.

Graziano attended two years of middle school with good results, but the sudden illness of his father forced him to leave the seminary and return home, to help out with the work in the fields and thus help the family. He still managed to get his middle school diploma.

In 1958, his father died. The weight of the family now fell on Graziano’s shoulders. Since the small farm was not enough to support the family, in 1960 he took on his first job.

In 1962, he enrolled in the course for general nurses in a hospital in Verona. The following year he began to practice at the Geriatric Hospital of Verona and worked there until 1968. Taking care of the sick and elderly satisfied him and considered it an important service for society. This option will remain a constant in his life. Meanwhile, his brother Cesare became a Comboni priest (1965) and left for the missions of Uganda.

On 10^th October 1968, Graziano also entered the Institute, at the Apostolic School of Pordenone, as a postulant brother. In March 1969 he entered the novitiate in Florence, and, on 9^th September 1970, he took his first religious vows.

In the meantime, a change of perspective on his missionary vocation had developed in him and he asked to become a priest. The judgment of the formators was favourable.

Graziano then moved first to the seminary of Carraia for two years of high school before moving to Crema to begin his philosophy studies. In September 1972, he went to the scholasticate in Rome to begin his theology studies. In August 1974, he was sent to the international scholasticate of Granada (Spain) to complete his theology. On 9^th September 1975, he made his final profession in Verona. Finally, on 14^th October 1978, Graziano was ordained a priest in the parish church of Rebbio by Bishop Teresio Ferraroni.

On 12^th December 1979, Father Graziano left for Peru. From 1980 to 1984 he was parish priest in Huánuco mission, in the Andes Mountain range, at an altitude of 2,000 metres. The parish, named after San Pedro, had 75,000 inhabitants, and covered a vast mountainous territory, with many “pueblos” (small villages), some of which were located at an altitude of 4,000 metres. In turn, the six Comboni Missionaries present would visit them all, celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments.

To visit the nearest villages, Father Graziano and his brothers use a Volkswagen ‘Beetle’. But where there were no roads, they had to go on horseback. Father Graziano often found it hard to cope with the rarefied air lacking in oxygen.

The area was infested by Sendero Luminoso terrorists who were very active at that time. On several occasions, they threatened the missionaries, including Father Graziano but he feared nothing and no one.

Father Graziano was called to work at the Provincial House in Lima as bursar of the province of Peru-Chile from 1984 to 1994 and was in charge of missionary animation (1994-1996).

At Christmas 1988, in a long letter to Father General, Francesco Pierli, he took stock of his first 10 years of mission. “I have spent these years as the ‘patient sower’ who throws the seed into the earth... Seed which then sprouts, grows, and bears fruit. I decided to become a missionary precisely for this reason: to sow the Word of the Gospel among people who do not yet know it. I am profoundly happy with this ‘election’ of mine. If necessary, I’d start over. I feel fully fulfilled... Like in a film, I see these ten years pass before my eyes: all the work done, the many initiatives carried out, all the people I have met along my journey: the catechism children, the young people of the various groups of the Word, the groups of spouses who were my traveling companions... So many people!”

In 1992, he took a sabbatical in Rome, then returned to Lima for missionary animation until December 1995.

From March 1996 until Christmas 2000 he served in the Mother House of Verona as head of the Centre for the Sick and Elderly. In 2001 he returned to Peru. From 2002 to 2007 he was parish priest of the new parish/mission Señor de los Milagros, in the very poor suburbs (the so-called pueblos jóvenes) of Trujillo (central-northern Peru). In 1993 he was appointed vicar general of the archdiocese of Trujillo by Monsignor Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte. The archdiocese has 1,400,000 inhabitants.

From 2007 to 2010 he was responsible for the Missionary Animation Centre in Lima. Since 2011, he worked at the Provincial House of Lima as vice-superior. Later, he was appointed superior of the community, and would remain so until the day of his death, which occurred on 17^th July 2023. (Father Gianni Gaiga, mccj, and FM).