Born in Como on November 2, 1844.
Died in Cremia (Como) on 19 September 1905.
As soon as he was ordained a priest, in 1867, he entered Cremia as coadjutor and teacher and remained there always, for thirty-eight years, successively assisting three parish priests, including Don Carlo Coppini with whom he collaborated in the foundation of the Pianello Lario hospice.
When Don Guanella arrived in Pianello Lario, according to Sister *Marcellina Bosatta there was a moment of "chiaroscuro" between the two priests, since Don Ostinelli (together with Don *Lorenzo Rizzoli, Provost of Musso) did not want to hospice attached themselves to that new parish priest whom they considered «dangerous and even exalted», even if don Ostinelli knew don Guanella from the seminary where he recalled he was distinguished by fervor, piety and devotion. When the nuns ended up welcoming Don Guanella as their director, Don Ostinelli, taking leave of Sister Marcellina, allegedly even predicted: "You will find yourselves repentant". But after that moment, Don Ostinelli became more and more benevolent towards the institution, donating in addition to his copious library, various offers and the sum of 8.000 lire obtained in two installments through his brother Pietro. Some precious letters addressed by Don Guanella to this old seminary companion are preserved: towards the end of 1879 he sent him from Traona an autograph of Don Bosco and greetings for the parish priest of Pianello Lario, Don *Carlo Coppini, whose hospice he admired and promised to go to visit; on 20 and 21 April 1887, she wrote to him to come and greet «that little angel Sister Chiara» Bosatta alive and, after his death, to sing the funeral mass and (since funerals were to be celebrated forma pauperum) to beg for candles that the hospice did not have!; even later he wrote to greet him from Rome, during the pilgrimage of 1890, to entrust himself to his prayers "in his holy contemplations" and to offer him his services from Rome. Don Guanella, after having comforted his friend on his deathbed, remembered him in the obituary drawn up for "La Divina Provvidenza" as a priest "of angelic habits, meek and ingenuous", "dedicated to prayer and study".
Sources:
«As Sacra», 1868, p. 90.
«The Order», September 19, 1905, p. 3.
Guanellian sources:
Guanellian Letters, nos. 1970-1975.
The pilgrimage and celebrations in Pianello Lario, in «La Divina Provvidenza», 1896, p. 76.
[LUIGI GUANELLA], Obituary, in «La Divina Provvidenza», 1905, pp. 158-159.
CARLO MARIANI, Impressions of a trip, in «La Divina Provvidenza», 1905, p. 188.
LUIGI GUANELLA, The ways of Providence. Autobiographical Memoirs, Rome, New Frontiers, 1988 (popular edition), p. 66.
LEONARDO MAZZUCCHI, Fragmenta vitae et dictorum sac. Aloysii Guanella [1912-1915], manuscript, in Guanellian Archive, Como, VII a 2, f. 3.
SACRA RITUUM CONGREGATIONE, Comen. seu Mediolanen. Beatificationis et canonizationis servi Dei Aloysii Guanella [...]. Positio super virtutibus, Summarium, Romae, Typis Guerra et Belli, 1950, pp. 9-10, 17, 41 (witness Sister Marcellina Bosatta).
Photographs:
LEONARDO MAZZUCCHI, The parish priest Don Carlo Coppini (1827-1881), Como, Casa Divina Provvidenza Printing School, 1912, fig. 10.