In Pace Christi

Monsignor Lorenzo Ceresoli returned to the house of the Father on Friday, 6^th September 2024, in Castel d’Azzano (Verona), in the ‘Fratel Alfredo Fiorini’ Centre for sick and elderly Comboni missionaries. He was born in Nave (Brescia) on 18^th May 1931, into a family characterised by an intense Christian life lived in simplicity and work, blessed by three sons and three daughters. We could summarise his life like this: 93 years of life, 70 years of consecrated life, 64 years of priesthood and 30 years of episcopate. Lorenzo attended elementary school in the village. After the fifth grade, his father placed him in work as an apprentice at a carpenter’s shop. Monsignor Ceresoli said: “I have never been an altar boy, but I have always attended the oratory and meetings of Catholic Action.” It is precisely at the school of Catholic Action that he grew in Christian life and daily commitment. The example and words of the delegate of Catholic Action helped him to cultivate the seed of his vocation that led him to follow the Lord. In the meantime, he attended evening classes at the institute that the Salesians had in Nave. He soon followed in his father's example and became a member of the town's musical band.

At 18, Lorenzo entered the diocesan seminary of Brescia, where he attended high school. But he did not want to be just a priest: he wanted to go to Africa! His parish priest, therefore, put him in contact with the Comboni missionaries who had a "Minor Seminary" in Viale Venezia in Brescia.

In October 1952, Lorenzo entered the novitiate of the Comboni Institute in Florence. The following year he went to Sunningdale, England, for the second year of novitiate. On 9 September 1954, he took his first vows and began his first theology course, again in Sunningdale. In 1956 he was in Venegono Superiore for the third year of theology. On 9^th September 1959, he made his perpetual religious profession and on 2^nd April 1960, he was ordained a priest.

His first destination was England, as a formator in the Comboni minor seminary in Mirfield. He would never forget this first experience: «I lived in a different cultural world, and I began to learn what it meant to live together and share with people of different nationalities and cultures». For him, it was a school that prepared him for the great leap towards Africa, which took place six years later.

In 1967 he went to the Apostolic Vicariate of Hawassa in Ethiopia. He began studying the language and pastoral and missionary insertion. Those were beautiful and intense years, characterised by his great desire to share the most precious thing he carried with him: the gift of Jesus. He would say of this first period: “Walking with the people, I learned a lot. We enriched each other, despite the many difficulties.” From 1976 to 1981 he was the provincial superior of Ethiopia.

In 1981, the superiors called Father Lorenzo to the important service of the formation of future African Combonians. For 10 years he was the father master of novices from Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia, first in Tartar (Kenya), then in Kampala and Namugongo (Uganda). Many African Combonians around the world today, remember him as a great “Father Master”.

Father Lorenzo returned to Italy in July 1990 for a renewal course in Rome. In July of the following year, he was superior of the community of Casa Madre, in Verona. In 1993, he was vice provincial superior of the Italian province. On 20^th December 1993, Father Lorenzo was appointed Apostolic Vicar of the Vicariate of Hawassa, where he had worked in his first years of missionary life. He would tell his brothers: “Three times I begged Rome to be exempted from this appointment. But everything had already been decided! And then, I prayed: ‘Lord, you know, you are well aware of how little good I am... Help me on my journey. I am merely an instrument in your hands’”. He was consecrated bishop on 9^th March 1994. He would lead the local Church of Hawassa until 21^st March 2009, when he renounced the pastoral government of the Vicariate having reached the age limit. What characterised his episcopal ministry was his being with the people, with the ones he felt were his own, with whom he identified himself in a long and patient journey, taking small steps of communion and brotherhood. He loved his people and his priests, acting with coherence and patience. It was not always easy; there were times and moments of suffering, but he always placed his trust in the One who had chosen him.

After his episcopal mandate, Msgr. Ceresoli continued to be a simple missionary, ‘bishop emeritus’, for another ten years in some missions of the Vicariate of Hawassa and in the capital Addis Ababa. He would have liked to remain in ‘his’ Ethiopia, but his age and state of health forced him to return to his homeland.

In 2020, he returned to Italy and was assigned to the Comboni community of Brescia. Intense years followed, full of activity. He says: “A missionary never retires!” He actively participated in the life of the community. His reflections and interventions told of his wisdom and the experience of a long life. He was always up to date on the Italian situation and the life of the Italian Church and the world. He continued to cultivate contacts with the Church in Ethiopia and with the Comboni communities of that province. He said: “Every evening, I pray for the Pope, for Ethiopia, for my Church of Hawassa, for its priests, and for its people.” Numerous messages arrive from Ethiopia. Many of these end like this: “Dear Monsignor, even if you are in Italy, you will always be our father.”

When a bishop was needed for ministry in the city of Brescia, Msgr. Ceresoli was always available. And there he was, conferring the sacrament of Confirmation to the confirmands of the parishes of the Good Shepherd and San Francesco di Paola. His is the beautiful testimony of a ninety-year-old bishop who ends up being seen and felt as a “grandfather” by many boys and girls and their families.

In August 2024, Msgr. Ceresoli agreed to be transferred to Castel d’Azzano, where he could be cared for more closely. He died on 6^th September. On the 9^th, a funeral mass was celebrated in the chapel of the Centre. On the afternoon of the 10^th the funeral was held at the parish church of Nave. (Father Girolamo Miante, mccj).