of God, the Church and the poor, especially in our Guanellian family spread in
various continents.
Thank you, uncle, especially for the interest and the passion with which you
followed my missionary adventure. Carry us in your heart before the Father and
pray for the growth of our missions, for our growth in sanctity and quality of
evangelical witness. We entrust to you especially the newly formed Divine
Providence Province, the confreres, the entire Guanellian family and the poor
entrusted to us. Your departure makes our family and the Guanellian community
a little poorer on earth. However, we are consoled that Heaven has become
richer and more beautiful. We trust you. Continue to love us and help us from
above.”
Let us conclude with a final thought from the spiritual testament left by
father Amanzio especially to his native parish of Mese: “I die happily for having
given my life to the Lord and to the souls, asking forgiveness from those to
whom I had given bad example. The sufferings that accompany my death and
the burial in the ground, after the simple funeral without flowers, become a
pleasing offering to the Lord to implore from him priestly and religious
vocations for our community. The Cross on the tomb is a sign of my unfailing
hope in the resurrection with Jesus, with Our Lady and with those whom I loved
and love in the Lord. Jesus, I trsut in you!”
Father G
UIDO
D
ALL
’A
MICO
3. Father Giuseppe De Bortoli
Born in Castiglione Olona (VA) on November 21, 1916
Entered at Fara Novarese on September 28, 1934
Novitiate at Barza d’Ispra (VA) on September 12, 1938
First Profession at Barza d’Ispra on 12 September 1940
Final Profession at Scala on September 12, 1943
Priestly Ordination at Fasano on September 21, 1946
Died in Bari on April 12, 2007
Rests in the cemetery of Castiglione Olona (VA)
Dear Father Giuseppe,
From the house of Fasano, Opera Don Guanella, we would like to send you
this letter, which you in heaven will certainly like. It seems strange to us not to
see you anymore for Morning Prayer, meditation, and then for breakfast with the
famous round pastry without hole, prepared with lot of love. Then, methodically,
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after an affectionate good morning to all the staff, first with quick steps and then
always slower, you went to the small “workshop”, to continue the work of the
previous day, not for your personal interest but, as a good Guanellian, always for
the boys for whom you dedicated your life. It feels strange not seeing you
anymore.
In Castiglione Olona, where you were born, you were still a young boy,
when you started to work in a comb factory and then in a bicycle factory. Later,
the Lord called you to become a member of the Guanellian family, with the
first religious profession on September 12, 1940 and the final Profession
on September 12, 1943 and finally with the Priestly Ordination on September
21, 1946.
Among the many commitments of your religious life, you were a good
educator for the seminarians in Anzano del Parco. You
wrote these words in your
diary: “
To educate (
educere) means to bring out from the child or from the youth
what he has inside, who he is, his truth so that he achieves to his fullest
potential, freeing himself from all that is contrary to his Truth”. But the elderly
also had the chance to have you near them. It was a good presence, comforting
and serene, especially in those moments when the final count of one’s life is
made. You had a great sensibility for the disabled, the good children of father
Guanella.
You wrote in one of your diaries: “
The Holy Spirit transformed me through
the Bishop of Monopoli, Gustavo Bianchi, on September 21, 1946... I am priest
from that day... However, who is the Priest? He is a man capable of listening,
guiding and dialog. He is a man of the community and witness of the mission.
What transformations took place in me, my Jesus, mercy!”
We continue with our memories. Back in the workshop where the
imagination moves everyday to invent and create small artifacts and the many
“monumental” cribs, which attracts to our institute many collaborators,
benefactors and visitors. The exhibit of the activities, the graphic representation,
the illumination, your projects during the vacations at the mountains or by the
sea
... all this was your joy, dear Father Giuseppe. You preserved everything with
a collection of significant photos for the entertainment of friends and relatives in
common joy. The years spent in the Guanellian house of Fasano, certainly were
the best of your life. You always stated that you found your peace, your
community, and your second family at Fasano. On many occasions, you told us
and to the Superiors in Rome that you desired to die in our house and be buried
in the cemetery of Castiglione, in the chapel of the Castiglionesi Priests. The
Superiors and your relatives listened to your desires.
Your story continues after lunch, “enriched” also by the many pills that you
faithfully took and with lot of confidence in their positive effect. You lived 92
years, and did not miss the daily siesta. At 4:30pm, you prayed the breviary,
faithful friend of your life, the spiritual reading and readied for the 7pm Holy
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