Born in Lumezzane (Brescia) on 17 September 1856.
Died in Chicago (USA) on August 13, 1934.
Ordained priest in Brescia in 1879, he was parish priest in Brione. He entered the Scalabrinian congregation in 1890 and in the same year he left for New Orleans, where he remained until 1894, comforting the Italian community frightened by the tragedy of the lynching of Italians. In 1894 he was in Pittsburg, then in Boston parish priest at the Sacred Heart. In 1898 Msgr. Scalabrini appointed him provincial superior. He directed the Opera S. Raffaele at New York Harbor, moving the headquarters to Ellis Island. In 1905 he was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in Chicago. Pius X, on the occasion of the XNUMXth anniversary of his priesthood, awarded him with the Cross "pro Ecclesia et Pontifice". Vittorio Emanuele III gave him the title of "Knight of the Crown of Italy".
From the very beginning Don Guanella tried to have "clear agreements" with Don Gambera, above all with regard to the autonomy of his foundation, to avoid the onset of those misunderstandings, undoubtedly magnified by the distances, which caused Sister *Rosa Bertolini to suffer so much and the first Guanellian nuns in the United States. The "humorous and angular" character of Don Gambera in fact contributed to increasing the discomfort of the nuns who arrived unprepared for
Sources:
Scalabrinian General Archive.
Guanellian sources:
Guanellian Letters, nos. 1257, 2974, 1258.
MADDALENA ALBINI CROSTA, Weapons of charity, in «La Divina Provvidenza», 1913, pp. 69-70.
LUIGI GUANELLA, Returning from North America, in «La Divina Provvidenza», 1913, p. 77.
59, 70, 77, 79, 93, 97, 108-110, 154-155, 157-158, 160, 172; 1914: 108, 155, 169; 1915: 43, 58, 121
MARIA GIUSEPPINA CERRI, Sister Rosa Bertolini: the beginnings of the Guanellian work in America, in Wealth of historical figures around Don Luigi Guanella. Reciprocal relationships and contributions, edited by Alejandro Dieguez, Rome, Nuove Frontiere Editrice, 2000, pp. 322-340.
MARIA GIUSEPPINA CERRI, Guanellian missionary expansion in the United States of America, in Daughters of St. Mary of Providence and Servants of Charity in the twenty years following the death of the Founder, edited by Alejandro Dieguez, Rome, Nuove Frontiere Editrice, 2003 , pp. 329-330.
Photographs:
Scalabrinian General Archive (courtesy of Father Giovanni Terragni).
ccccc
1913: 3c, 59, 70, 77, 79, 93, 97, 108-110, 154-155, 157-158, 160, 172; 1914: 108, 155, 169; 1915: 43, 58, 121