Founder is exhibited, together with other saints, in the underground Basilica
dedicated to St. Pius X. How happy I was for this event! It was the desire of our
General Council that Father Ampelio represent the Congregation in the board of
directors of UNITALSI.
How many dreams and projects he had in his mind to mark and celebrate
the 150
th
anniversary of the apparition at Lourdes.
The house of Barza keeps the memory of his love for the Virgin Mary. He
had started the devotion of a candlelight procession, with all the people of the
region, every year on May 13. From the Grotto in the park, they move to the
Church where a solemn Eucharist is celebrated while two or three choirs take
turns in singing the hymns.
In his spiritual testament, written in Bologna, on August 21, 1997, the feast
day of St. Pius X pope, his fellow countrymen, he expressed a personal desire
that “my mortal remains were buried in the cemetery of the Certosa in Bologna,
in the earth, in the unique cemetery of the diocesan and religious priests, under
the maternal sight of the Sanctuary of Blessed Virgin of St. Luke. In the event
that this creates some inconvenience or difficulties, I leave free to decide those
who
have this duty, where to bury my body.”
Our Superiors decided to bury the body of Father Ampelio in the cemetery
of Ispra, with the other Guanellian confreres, and near the house of his brother
Gino of Monvalle, who did so much for him, sharing his anxiety, worries and
inconveniences during his sickness.
I would like to conclude these thoughts on Father Ampelio, quoting again
from the eulogy of Bishop Stucchi who had known and appreciated father
Ampelio.
“I have seen him many times generous in our communities. I have seen him
obedient as a true disciple of Jesus even at great sacrifice.
I have seen him again, a simple friend and ready even after the experience
of his suffering. His pain had become unbearable for him and it seemed to
contradict paradoxically his qualities and his gifts, because he loved to be with
the people!
The sufferings that the Lord allows and in which he always mysteriously
supports and strengthens us, are never within an immediate logic and easy to
live, but they open greatly to the grace of the Spirit, going deep to purify more in
profundity.
The Lord of life, who now has called him to Himself and made him live
fully in his glory, had made him always more similar to Him, through
consecrated life, the priestly ministry and the dedication of his heart, which
spoke
to you with eyes and hands, before his words.
I am moved intensely by his parable of life, because it reveals the work of
the Spirit, because it mirrors the gospel passages of Jesus’ Passover, as a call and
mandate for his disciples, as ministry springing from the unique priesthood of
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