was known to many in Genova and he also knew and remembered many
everyday. He kept updated, with extreme care, a notebook that carried the
death’s anniversary of thousands of benefactors of the Casa dell’Angelo. It was
visible on the lectern by the side of the chapel. Every day after Mass, he opened
the book, turned the page, read silently the names of the deceased of the day, and
said a prayer.
It was a small gesture, monotonous and routine, few seconds... but what a
nobility, gratitude and faith! And so on every day, for fifty years. This was
Brother Tito. Then many remember him always as beautiful figure. It may be a
word,
a gesture,
an act of kindness, a joke or a typical expression.
The confreres who lived with him remember his many gestures and
attentions, polite but sincere. No mushy stuff, but the right expression and the
right word at the right moment:
You are great; we are a family; this is truly a
beautiful community; come on, cheer up! Let the world mumble...
We cannot forget the humor with which he justified the purchase of biscuits
in his last days. By now, his diabetes that would lead him to death was getting
worse.
Coming back from the market, he stopped every day, in heavy traffic, in
front of the bakery to buy his biscuits. Entering the house, he tried to sneak them
to his office and if some confrere questioned him, he lied shamelessly and
replied, “They are for my beloved parakeets.” However, everyone knew the
biscuits were instead for the “big parrot.”
We love to remember another of his daily habits. Every morning, the
children stop briefly in chapel for a short prayer before going to school. Tito was
always there at his usual place, at the right side on the bench before the last.
After the prayer, his “little angels” would come close to him and greet him with
a spontaneous, free, uninhibited kiss, without fear or curiosity for his marked
face. Many would ask him, with the frankness and innocence of the children,
how that deformation took place. He repeated the same words every time, kindly
and patiently. “I did not obey my mother and I got into this big trouble...” From
this he drew a lesson on the value of obedience to the superiors and to the
parents, because by doing so there was no danger of making mistakes and
getting into trouble, as he did. He told everything with absolute simplicity,
without regret and drama. He narrated the event with that normality which left
the young and old without word. He advised then not to give up before
difficulties, misfortunes and the tragedies that marked the life of many young
children.
After all, he too came out from a great suffering and misfortune, but this
did not prevent him from becoming Tito. It takes willpower... and obedience.
Nobody knows, but perhaps by repeating this so often and so serenely, he
wanted also to reinforce for himself and his confreres who listened, the
principles and the values that are at the foundation of religious life itself.
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He died on May 16, 2007. He wanted even his
death to be a community end
over, a celebration of life... a sharing. In that afternoon, we visited him at the
hospital. We came back to the house to our daily routine. His health was failing,
but there was no sign that the Lord would have instead called him to heaven
before evening. The telephone call came from the ward. The situation was
suddenly deteriorating. We ran immediately. The religious Community was at
Brother Tito’s bedside... in tears. However, there was serenity and peace. The
brother was in agony... a prayer, a blessing... the last breath... which was the last
sign of love. Then silence.
He was 85 years old but he never became an old man. He taught always
until the final breath the children, the youth and the young confreres how to be
keep their heart young and pure.
In the church of Casa dell’ Angelo, a huge panel, signed by his little angels
still proclaims “Thank you, Brother Tito.”
Father N
ANDO
G
IUDICI
5. Father Girolamo Nava
Born
in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 11, 1926
Entered in Buenos Aires on September 1, 1958
Novitiate in Tapiales 19 March 19, 1959
First Profession in Tapiales on March 19, 1961
Final Profession in Chiavenna (SO) on February 19, 1964
Priestly Ordination in Como on 28 June 1964
Died in Lujan on June 26, 2007
Rests
in the cemetery of Lujan, Argentina.
“I learned about the Congregation through the school of Transit of Buenos
Aires. I knew already that I would end up becoming a priest... I used to take a tin
can,
a little bit of hay, some pieces of coal and burned incense...
Only God knows how he chose me! I knew many other people who were
better, more intelligent”... (
Interview for the Study Center, 2000).
Father Girolamo was born on November 11, 1926, in the neighborhood of
the Parish and the school of Transit of St. José, in Buenos Aires. In this school,
he completed his primary studies and later the philosophy courses. He then
moved to Chiavenna, Italy, for theology. Here he was known and called as “the
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