In Pace Christi

He was about to leave the hospital at Padova where he had been operated on for a tumour, when suddenly, because of a blood clot on the lung, Fr. Fantin ended his generous missionary life. He was 60.

The fourth of 8 children, four of each kind, Giovanni came from a deeply religious family. Two of his sisters, Leonina (Comboni Sisters) and Alessandra became nuns, thus prolonging, with him, the long line of uncles and cousins that had followed the Lord in the same way.

Their father, Alessandro, was a farmer, and their mother, Leonina Colussi, a home-maker. They had some good land, and were considered well-to-do. It was another reason for being generous to the poor, who were frequent callers at the Fantin home, and never left empty-handed.

An eager altar-boy and member of Catholic Action, Giovanni would say, from time to time, that he wanted to be a missionary like his uncle Pio. Then came the War to overturn plans and cause some delay. In 1944 the family learned what it was like to be refugees: they left their home and went to stay in San Lorenzo until the "all clear" sounded.

At 11, when he had completed his fourth year of primary school, Giovanni joined the Comboni seminary at Padova, though he did not actually do the fifth year.

"His favourite friends," writes his sister Leonina, "were boys that spoke of the same desire to be priests. They were times when, in Casarsa, to become a priest was almost the normal thing to do for a boy.

In character he was calm, thoughtful and a bit timid. He only raised his voice when it was a question of defending the truth, and then his timidity disappeared entirely. I remember that, even as a child, he loved the poor and the sick. When he went to visit them he would stay for hours to keep them company. He had the mark of the Lord's call on him, right from his mother's womb. A few days after his birth, his mother noticed that the index finger of his left hand was curled in, and she wept: ."

He was also a peacemaker from his early years. "I remember," his sister continues, "that he would easily drop all his arguments to preserve peace and concord with his friends or his siblings".

The Parish Priest, don Giovanni Maria Stefanini, played an important part in his vocation. He was a holy priest, with a supernatural "sixth sense" to recognise vocations among the children. And he would follow them up with care".

In the shadow of the Cross

Giovanni left home for the seminary the first time on 4th October 1946. The junior seminary in Padova had been damaged in the bombing, so the lads went to Luvigliano in the Euganeian Hills, to study while they waited for repairs to be completed.

On June 14 1949, during the third-year tests, his mother suddenly died, only 41 years old. The shock was enormous; Giovanni was so dazed that the exams were a disaster, and he had to repeat the year. It was not until October 5 1950 that he reached Brescia for the final two years of his middle school.

Novice

On 18th September 1953 Giovanni, with a large group of companions from the missionary juniorate of Brescia, entered the Novitiate at Gozzano (Novara), where Fr. Pietro Rossi was Novice Master.

Life was grim in that old building that had been diocesan seminary and then Jesuit novitiate before being bought by the Comboni Missionaries in 1947: cold, damp, and absolutely none of the comforts taken for granted nowadays. Some of the novices were poorly, among them Giovanni, whose health had never been robust.

On 8th December 1953, following a retreat, they received the religious habit, marking their official entry into the Novitiate.

After two years of this spiritual process, the Novice Master was able to write: "He has reached a high level of serenity with regard to his vocation. He is very committed to prayer. Still with his shyness, insecurity and reserve, that cause a few moments of discouragement. He is modest, charitable and upright. His health is still imperfect, and raises some doubts in the formators, even though he always behaves as though he is perfectly well."

Towards the priesthood

On September 9 1955 he made his Religious Profession and moved to Verona for the second year of Upper School (the first having been completed in the Novitiate).

Luckily, Fr. Gino Albrigo was superior at the time, just back from the missions. Like Fr. Calderola in Brescia, he looked on the young men entrusted to him as future missionaries. This point of view allowed him to put many things into another perspective, and led him to oppose some of the too strict demands of teachers. And in addition to the life of study and prayer there were recreational activities, mainly football and long walks, that helped to relieve tensions and restore serenity.

"He's good," wrote Fr. Albrigo at the end of the period in Verona, which included a year of Philosophy. "Despite appearances, his health is not strong. He is obedient, serious and prayerful. He has shown an above-average intelligence in Philosophy."

With these credentials Giovanni went to Venegono Superiore for Theology in September 1958.

He was ordained in Milan Cathedral by Cardinal Montini on 7 April 1962.

At Padova and Trento

Fr. Fantin's first appointment was to the junior seminary in Padova, as Vice-rector. He was there until 1964.

"We felt quite clearly that he loved us," says one of the boys of that time. "Even when he scolded us for some prank, he did it gently, with a kind of pain. It was clear it was for our good."

In 1964, when a vacancy arose in our junior seminary in Trento, the superiors thought of Fr. Giovanni at once. This would certainly suit his mild character more, since he did not like telling boys off, and even less punishing them. He spent five years in this delicate office, until he was assigned to Ecuador, in 1969. After seven years of priesthood, he felt the need to go to the missions, and would have preferred Africa; but he soon became enthusiastic over Latin America where, in some ways, he saw a greater challenge even than in Africa.

At S. Lorenzo

"Salida in barco Donizetti desde Genova hasta Guayaquil (Ecuador)", he wrote in a kind of diary on 19 march 1970.

He was appointed almost immediately to the "camp" of S. Lorenzo, a quasi-parish with rivers on all sides, so travel was by boat. There was a school and a hospital and several craft schools, so the place was important enough, and there was plenty to do. Plenty of problems too, but his inner strength and freshness helped him to overcome all the obstacles he met with.

Maybe S. Lorenzo was not the right place for someone not in the best of health, but Fr. Fantin threw himself into pastoral ministry, with never a complaint. He found himself at home very quickly, both because he had a natural gift of approaching people and, because they were simple people like himself, he was not affected the shyness that he felt inside.

During this period he suffered two losses that were very painful to him: the tragic death of his brother Pietro (30 May 1970) and the death of Bishop Angelo Barbisotti, Vicar Apostolic of Esmeraldas.

A good-hearted Provincial Superior

Fr. Giovanni accepted election on 8 February 1973. His first task as new Provincial was to prepare for the entrance into Esmeraldas of the new Bishop, Enrico Bartolucci, who had been nominated to succeed the late Bishop Barbisotti. Then, towards the end of 1974, he and his Council moved the Provincial residence from La Merced to Quinindé, to make contacts with confreres easier.

One of his strong points - indeed, I would say the strongest - was his close contact with confreres. He wanted to meet them often, talk and share their problems and preoccupations. He was not happy until he saw them content. If they re-elected him to office three more times, it means that he was doing well.

The Provincial Residence moved again in 1975, this time to the capital of Ecuador, Quito.

He was re-elected Provincial at the end of his term of office. Times had changed, and so had personnel, bringing a lot of new problems, many of which did not have easy answers. The Vatican Council had brought in a lot of new ideas, and some people, of course, went over the toP. But there was the constant problem - shared with other missions - of never having enough personnel for all the needs of Ecuador, with the consequent fraternal "squabbles" with his superiors who, of course, could not furnish the missionaries he needed!

But the problems did not diminish or become less intense, and Fr. Giovanni, feeling he could not handle the situation, asked for a transfer. The Superior General proposed a period in Spain as formator. "If I can express my opinion," he replied, "I tell you that I need pastoral work; if not in Ecuador, then in a Latin American country. I have been 8 years in seminaries, 3 in San Lorenzo and now 5 as Regional. That means 13 years away from the people It frightens me."

Of these years as Provincial Fr. Balasso writes: "Exquisite humanity; a great travelling companion. He came into my room numerous times, and we would put the world to rights: hopes, ideas, frustrations, projects... And, a rare gift, he was able to ask confreres for their forgiveness."

Pause at Limone

Fr. Giovanni was back in Italy in June 1978, tired and tense. The superiors sent him to recuperate at the home of the Founder, Limone sul Garda.

Limone was a wonderful place: restful, with stupendous views, but rather isolated. This caused our missionary problems: he wanted to be active and have people to talk to. By 30 November, after a bare five months' residence, he was tired of the "blessed solitude", and wrote to the superiors: "I cannot stay at Limone any longer. I do not have the vocation to be a hermit. Please let me go back to the missions." The words were a clear sign that his health had improved, as well as of his fear that his nomination as superior of Limone was not too far off.

On 19 August 1979, he arrived at S. Pablo de Portoviejo (Ecuador), as Parish Priest.

New evangelization

Fr. Fantin had realised that the "incarnation" of the Gospel in the people required an adaptation to the traditions, customs and culture of the place. It was the only way Christianity could be felt and lived as a value proper to the people, and not as something that has been imported.

"I want to inform you," he wrote, "that I am moving towards an Afro-Ecuadorian rite. We are taking steps that are both careful and clear. Our people's religious culture has two roots: African and Ecuadorian. We want to recuperate whatever we can, and express it in gestures, signs, symbols, songs, instruments and words that are part of the local culture. Of all the groups of black people in Ecuador, perhaps we are the most advanced."

Fr. Raffaello Savoia writes: "After a while it became one of the best parishes. If the Comboni Missionaries had followed the example of Fr. Giovanni, and the style with which he began, Ecuador today would be an example of new evangelisation at a national level. Unfortunately, his methods seemed a bit too radical."

Poor among the poor

"He was the first to live in rented accommodation and to do without powerful means for evangelisation," continues Fr. Savoia. "He would get covered in mud or dust, up and down those poverty-stricken hills in the San Pablo areas... and he knew what hunger and thirst were. Rather than the sacraments, he insisted on the Word of God. And despite all the hard work, he was content.

He understood human weakness very well: the limitations, the failings; but he always wanted to open new horizons, give new scope, animate people. He put himself on the line. What he demanded of others he demanded first of himself. He would correct people, if he had to; because for him the first thing in friendship had to be frankness, sincerity."

Animator

"Whenever he came back to Italy," writes his brother Renzo, "he would talk about his people in Ecuador with candour and love: he lived and worked for them."

"It is a great satisfaction," he himself wrote to the youth group in 1970, "to keep in touch with young people. I feel the need to do so. When young people talk to us and think of us, it renews our enthusiasm in our work".

He was not afraid of challenging their generosity. In a fax to a group holding a prayer vigil he wrote: "Hasn't the time come, even for young people of Casarsa, to give to the poor and the humble not only time, work, initiatives, voluntary activities, money and sacrifices, but also life itself? My life is in others and for others: this is the root of my fulfilment."

Provincial for the third time

Life in S. Pablo was going on peacefully, deep in the pastoral work he loved, in touch with the people, especially the youth who were always around him, and with whom he could do wonders. But he was elected Provincial for the third time, and had to take up this cross again on 1st July 1981.

When his mandate ended in 1984, he was sent to the mission of El Carmen, as parish priest.

But if he thought he was going to spend a good few years among the people he loved so much, and towards whom he felt drawn, it was an illusion. The following year he was called back to Italy for vocation work.

Times had changed greatly in Italy from when he was a boy! He felt like the proverbial fish out of water, and five months later he was back in El Carmen as PP: he managed close on five years there. During that time he lost his father (August 1989) and his missionary uncle, Fr. Pio Colussi MCCJ (December 1989).

Fourth term as Provincial

On 2nd September 1989 he was informed of the result of the voting for Provincial: he had come up again!

The final stages

In 1993, when his three-year mandate expired, Fr. Fantin went back to San Lorenzo, his first love in Ecuador. The Lord wanted him there to start preparing him for their special encounter, two years later.

On his arrival in Italy he went to Padova for treatment. His case did not seem terribly serious, and there were good hopes that, after the operation, he could return to his mission, and undergo periodical check-ups. He himself was serene during his time in hospital, both before and after the operation. He always had a ready joke for visitors, or a smile and a word of encouragement.

In some personal notes he wrote: "God calls in Jesus, incarnate and crucified; in Jesus, the open door of the Trinity. In the silence of his Word, in life and in death, in health and sickness, in humiliation and triumph, in solitude and in friendshiP."

Then one day, while talking to a friend, he suddenly collapsed. An embolism in the lung, about which nothing could be done, ended his life in a few minutes.

They couldn't believe it

When the news of Fr. Giovanni's death reached the people of S. Pablo, S. Lorenzo, El Carmen, Quito, they just could not believe it. Then they began to recall how "P Juanito" used to live and walk among them: his house-to-house calls, what a good listener he was, the hope he could inspire, his sharing with them, and especially with those who were poorest, both spiritually and materially.

Many dressed in mourning and wept for him as for a brother. At the Requiem Mass celebrated by BP. Lorenzo Voltolino at S. Pablo, there was a great crowd. A month after his death a plaque was unveiled in the church, with the words: "To Padre Juan, comboni missionary, first parish priest of S. Pablo, messenger of peace, light and guide of Christian formation and human development. In loving memory. The parish".

The Town Council decreed three days of mourning, and flags flew at half-mast.

The Requiem was held in the open because of the crowds. At the offertory some of his personal items were brought up in the procession: his boots, his haversack, his hat, a picture of Our Lady from his room and his prayer book.

Just sixty years would seem too few for a missionary like Fr. Giovanni. But the Lord has His times, and they are always right. Now Giovanni rests in Casarsa cemetery, remembered by all. He leaves an example of a missionary who loved his vocation, was fulfilled in his life and loved by confreres and people. He gave his all in his zeal for the spreading of the Gospel message, particularly among the poor, like Bishop Comboni, of whom he was a true son.