Mass. You prepared the Sunday homily during the whole week, written on small
pieces of paper and proudly preserved it.
You did not throw away anything. Your room and the many storerooms you
created were the sign of your presence. You used to say, “Things might be useful
one day and it is not right to throw away what we don’t need today, because they
can be useful tomorrow.” Nobody could have changed your mind on that. Now
in Heaven the Eternal Father will give you the reward for saving so much, as a
good Guanellian should.
However, I do understand you. You were born during the Great War, and
World War II saw you as a young educator at the Guanellian house in Amalfi,
struggling to protect your children from hunger and the air raids in a shelter by
day and night.
In those difficult moments of war, you had to be strong and save things so
that everyone was saved. The evenings together with you were wonderful, when
you narrated these “adventures” which helped you to mature and become the
“great” man you are today.
Television was not your choice, if not for three shows: the bicycle race, the
“Pacchi” game, and the soccer team Inter. Then you ended the day with personal
care and with the Night Prayer. Some evenings, when we recited this prayer in
common we reflected on the words... “ Into your hands, Lord, I commend my
spirit,” and concluded: “One day the Lord will call us to his Kingdom and we
have to be ready for it.”
You were ready, because when the Lord knocked at your door you
answered: “HERE I AM!” It was April 12, 2007, the Feast day of the Madonna
di Pozzo Faceto.
It was a peaceful death, prepared well in advance. When all the confreres of
the house of Fasano came to visit you the day before, you shook hands with all
of us. You shook my hands also, but it was not like the other times, because,
being unable to speak, you placed in your gesture the whole power of a
testament... of a spiritual testament. Then, I accompanied you for the final
goodbye together with others. All were there and the homily of the Vicar General
was true to your life, which touched and edified those, present: the confreres,
boys, workers, and children of the kindergarten, friends, former students, and
cooperators. Finally, you left for your place, where today you rest in the peaceful
sleep of the just. As a Guanellian confrere, I say thank you, because you
incarnated in your life the charism of Blessed Louis Guanella and you were a
faithful witness. I praise the Lord with all the priests, especially those who had
known you, the residents, the workers, the formative team, the faithful, the
alumni, the first orphans whom you welcomed together with the Guanellians of
the first hour (1937) . Today we have a protector in heaven who, with Father
Sante Perna, Blessed Luigi and Chiara, prays to the Lord for this house and for
all its residents.
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I would like to dedicate to you a poem by B
ENNARDO
P
INO
for a
DECEASED
GRANDFATHER
:
Like a farmer who
sweats by working, because
the work in the field is hard life
but in his heart, there is always
the hope that his sweating gives
abundant fruits.
Instead you, who in your life
had always given a lot and all,
did not see one lonely fruit.
You, who as a good farmer
had always done your work
with monastic zeal,
were not rewarded ever by destiny.
If we close our eyes for a moment,
as a light from afar,
we see your stretched arms to us,
to embrace us all
because we are, grandpa, the fruits of your work.
Father D
ONATO
L
IOI
4. Brother Tito Campora
Born in Feriolo of Baveno (VB) on July 20, 1922
Entered at Gozzano on July 10 1935
Novitiate at Barza d’Ispra (VA) on September 12, 1939
First Profession at Barza d’Ispra on September 12 1941
Final Profession at Barza d’Ispra on September 12, 1947
Died in Genova-Ospedale, on May 16, 2007
Rests in the cemetery of Gozzano (NO)
For the biography of the Congregation, the history of Brother Tito could be
narrated in a few lines listing the stages of the first contacts and the beginning of
Guanellian life. Novitiate in Barza during the years 1939-1941. First profession
on September 12, 1941 and three days later, the first appointment to the Public
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Relations Office in Gozzano. He would remain there for almost twenty years
until September 15, 1960. He went to the Casa dell’Angelo in Genova, with the
same office, until the day of his death on May 16, 2007. The historical profile of
this holy confrere ends here. There are very few notes on the 66 years of
religious life spent for God and for the brothers in the most simple and ordinary
way. There were few transfers and no variations. An entire life dedicated to
friends and benefactors, dealing with addresses, bulletins, letters and visits. Was
it a meaningless and monotonous life? Not at all! For Tito, it was a way to
holiness for himself and others.
Brother Tito was born on July 20, 1922 in Feriolo di Baveno (VB), on the
west coast of Maggiore Lake, “the most beautiful place in the world,” he would
add, with his usual humor. He was the last of five brothers. His father was a
blacksmith and his mother a homemaker. A family of workers, who shaped iron
and the character of their sons with the beautiful virtues of faith and humanity.
His mother, a fervent Christian knew how to transmit to her sons a strong and
sincere faith. “Their Father,” Tito always said, “was instead a convinced socialist
and an honest worker.”
The infancy of Tito would be soon marked by a tragedy that would leave an
indelible feature, in the physical sense of the word, for life. One day, when his
mother and elder brothers were absent, he went imprudently near the fire of the
hearth to look inside the boiling pot. Suddenly, either for curiosity, or for loss of
balance, the body of little Tito was literally covered with burns.
That day, that event, shaped Brother Tito’s personality and his dignity. The
indelible mark of the accident together with the beauty of his soul gave him a
unique and special gift, always, everyday of his life, until the end. He
remembered with pride the educational wisdom with which his mother directed
his life after that tragedy.
He did not receive concessions of any kind because of his disability. He
was in school with all the other children; played together with all the other boys;
worked like his other brothers. No breaks, he was simply like others. In addition,
with the same normality, Tito loved and accepted himself and earned the love
and acceptance of others. He did not use his situation as a reason to complain, as
he disliked by nature any form of self pity. He did not claim any rights or
particular favors and avoided all sorts of common assistance. He formed himself
in this way and became the extraordinary person known by many of us,
appreciated and loved.
He was of strong character and firm will but always respectful and discrete
in manners, reserved and essential in relationships, but at the same time capable
of familiarity and affection.
His infancy was marked with another painful event. One winter evening his
father was returning home from work. He had money with him, the fruit of his
hard work. He was suddenly attacked. No one knew by whom and why. They
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