The new issue of «Pagine Guanelliane»: an opportunity to learn and understand
by Fabrizio Fabrizi
We attest to this every time we recite the Creed, but it is not just a dogma of faith. The communion of saints is often also a historical, concrete, and documented fact, evidence of providential encounters, fraternal friendships, and mutual support among people united by their love for Christ.
In this sense, the events reconstructed in the opening article of issue 5 of "Pagine Guanelliane," the historical journal of the Guanellian Studies Center, are exemplary. The protagonists are Luigi Guanella, Clelia Merloni (1861-1930), founder of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart, beatified in 2018, and Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (1939-1905), bishop of Piacenza and founder of the Missionaries of St. Charles, canonized in 2022.
Marina Loffredo, former archivist at the Generalate of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart, documents a circumstance barely touched upon in Guanellian historiography, little-known but certainly significant, concerning the early vocational journey of the Apostles' founder. Clelia Merloni was welcomed as a novice by Father Guanella into the Little House of Divine Providence, where she remained from August 1892 to early March 1894, taking her habit and making her religious profession. It was a brief but crucial period both for her formation, marked by an active apostolate in devotion to the Sacred Heart, and for her future as founder, who, upon her subsequent encounter with Scalabrini, Guanella's former seminary companion in Como, turned toward missionary service.
In the brief space of an article, enriched by the publication of images and documents, Loffredo manages to arouse curiosity and interest in this "interweaving" of sanctity, presenting "a journey reconstructed not so much chronologically as through topical images, useful for conveying the luminous dimension of the cooperation of these charisms." Mother Clelia maintained her memory and gratitude toward Don Guanella throughout her life, which also included moments of bitter difficulty and painful misunderstandings, an experience well known to almost all founders and foundresses.
This is followed by an article by Guanellian priest Giovanni Russo, who offers a theological-pastoral reflection on the most significant texts of Luigi Guanella's Writings for the Congregations . His contemporary "reading" describes the Guanellian charism as "the evangelizing dynamism of the service of charity." Born in the fertile Lombardy environment, but dominated by the influence of Cottolengo and Don Bosco, this gift of the Spirit matures in the recognition of God's fatherhood, revealed "in the Son, in the love of his Heart for every weak and sick person," and becomes a service to the whole person, finding in the Eucharist, "a river of grace and a fire of charity [...] not only inner strength but also a plan centered on the witness of Christ's presence, which draws closer than ever to every person wounded in body and spirit."
The third contribution is dedicated to Aurelio Bacciarini, a key figure in Guanellian history, and is presented by Father Melvinraj Savarimuthu, a formator at the Opera Don Guanella international seminary, named after the bishop of Lugano. He outlines his theological thinking on consecrated life, drawing on previously unpublished material recently added to the Archives of the Centro Studi Guanelliani. Highlighted is his profound and intense "spiritual life, guided along two axes: an unshakeable faith, which led him to interpret everything in the light of God, and a tireless zeal for the salvation of souls, strengthened by incessant prayer and mortification."
His vocation was tempered in the school of Don Guanella but later also revealed some original characteristics, constitutive of a solid and complex spirituality: the contemplative and ascetic dimension, the striving to continually seek God in solitude and silence, the spirit of penance and mortification, the following of Christ in the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, experienced as "the most generous and sanctifying path that leads to the gift of self to God and to souls, the principal path to union with God and immolation for him."
This is followed by a statement by Vincenzo Corrado, director of the National Office for Social Communications of the CEI, taken from the conference held in Como for the presentation of the Scritti pubblicistici (publicistic writings) of Luigi Guanella, who from 1892 to 1915 was directly responsible for a systematic communications effort through the monthly magazine "La Divina Provvidenza." Well before the current codes of ethics, Guanella, the "journalist," demonstrated "how closely his ability to interpret reality and his journalistic style were aligned with the concept of professionalism" as it is understood today, that is, based on an ethic of respect, in a relationship of loyal and responsible service to the community.
Two lucid reviews close the magazine: the first, by Carlo Macale, is dedicated to a large gallery of 900th-century Christian educators opened by Don Guanella himself; in the other, Stefano Biancotto examines the methods and practices of a Guanellian home for people with disabilities.
"Pagine Guanelliane" confirms itself as a useful tool for reflection and study, to understand that detailed knowledge of the facts and rigorous analysis of the texts are the foundation of every activity inspired by Luigi Guanella, in the desire to aspire to his sanctity, which we all feel close to.
To request the magazine: centro.studi@guanelliani.it - 06.6637984