Don Guanella, missionary of charity

                                        The "meeting" , «sharing» with the poor
                                 it has become a lifestyle for our Don Luigi.

Throughout his life Don Guanella was animated by a special attention to the poor and needy combined with an untiring missionary spirit. The Guanellian historian don Piero Pellegrini underlined that «next to a profound imperious vocation for the poor and for every misery, he always felt a strong missionary vocation that urged him throughout his life» and that always remained in his heart.
From the harsh and looming yoke of mountains of his native Valle Spluga which, like the hedge of Leopardi's memory «from so much of the far horizon the view excludes», has been able to dilate the horizon of his mind and his heart to embrace everything the world, to "show the world by deeds that God is the one who provides for his children with the solicitous care of a father" by bringing "Bread and Lord" to the poor.

1 Childhood and the family environment
Don Luigi himself guides us to identify the seeds of his missionary vocation. When in 1913-1914 he dictates his autobiographical memoirs Le vie della Provvidenza, it is no coincidence that when he speaks of his works «In the Swiss cantons of Grisons and Ticino», he precedes some details of his infancy and childhood, as if to perceive in them «a distant conception of ideas, the first step which naturally leads to the second in question».
The "population of Valle San Giacomo [...] sober, hardworking and above all religious", could not escape the different religion professed by their Swiss neighbors, with whom they had many working relationships, with the consequent missionary concern, animated by simple and concrete gestures . Those same gestures that Don Luigi had been able to observe in his family environment: «And when in the house the good mother lodged some Protestants who the next day would have crossed the Alps to go to their own village of Cresta [...], she would repeat: «that pity do those Lutherans who have departed from the true Church their mother!». A figure close to him, seen with great admiration, was that of his second cousin Don Gaudenzio Bianchi: «When the young boy Luigi Guanella saw his relative the priest Gaudenzio Bianchi, provost of Campodolcino, seek help to set up a Catholic station in Andeer , then he thought from a distance: "What a beautiful thing!" .

2. The formative years
The missionary vocation took shape and consolidated during the years of formation, above all thanks to the closeness and friendship of Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (later bishop of Piacenza and "apostle of migrants"). It is well known that Scalabrini's first desire as a new priest was to enter the Foreign Missions of Milan at S. Calocero, a choice of total dedication that announced in a nutshell a charism destined to fully unfold over time. Bishop Marzorati, however, was careful not to deprive himself of a valid collaborator and of his formative skills, so after only four months from Scalabrini's ordination he was appointed vice-rector of the seminary of S. Abbondio. The missionary ideal had an intense circulation in the Como theological seminary; even the young Luigi Guanella was intrigued and fascinated by it, until he too decided to ask for permission to join the Milanese Institute, however obtaining a refusal, probably due to the scarcity of clergy in the Diocese.
Don Luigi mentioned this question in a letter from Savogno, in 1870, to the capitular vicar Msgr. Ottavio Calcaterra: «You will remember lightly the desire and requests with which I, undersigned, addressed you in recent years to obtain your blessing for the Foreign Missions. She expressed herself in the opposite sense, but although I still keep her desire alive, I don't think I can make a new request for her ».
Don Guanella would also refer to this request later, in October 1881, writing to the bishop Msgr. Pietro Carsana: «Already in the Theological Seminary and until I left for Turin in 1875, for more than 10 years, I applied to this Ordinariate, to have it bless me for the Foreign Missions».

3. Young priest
Even after his priestly ordination on May 26, 1866, the call to mission persisted strongly in Don Guanella. He remembers Don Martino Cugnasca as Don Luigi: «he always loved the Missions of which he was so busy both in the parish ministry and in our Houses».
In the years in which he was spiritual bursar of Savogno he became interested in the Mission of Genoa City, in the United States, where some of his relatives and many fellow villagers of Campodolcino had emigrated: «In 1866 the writer was consecrated a priest and two years later he was able Fr Giovanni Bosco send to the colony - village of Genoa - City a parish priest in the person of a certain Don Gabriele Momo, a Piedmontese priest of Saluggia, who for over 25 years assisted with care and zeal the relatives of my family with other joint and neighboring families of Campodolcino, the Zaboglios, the Gadolas and many others. In doing this, was Don Guanella a prelude to sending a group of missionary nuns in 1913? He wouldn't dare say it; but he is certain that Divine Providence disposes everything softly and strongly ».

4. With Don Bosco
Just on his arrival in Turin, from Don Bosco, in January 1875, Don Guanella heard a missionary invitation addressed to him. «One evening in January 1875 Don Guanella bowed to kiss Don Bosco's right hand after finishing the conference in which he and his priests from the Superior Council had agreed to go to America; he therefore greeted me by saying: «Are we going to America?». A little later he appeared with his on the stage and began to say: "Let's go to America," and he expounded the matter at length. Don Bosco was in fact coming out of a council meeting in which an expedition to America had been decided, the first of the Salesian missionaries to Argentina, which took place towards the end of 1875 with Don Giovanni Cagliero at its head.
The same invitation was renewed to him at the end of the three years of Salesian life (1875-1878): «The Holy Father has given orders that for this year an expedition of missionaries should be made to S. Domingo, where it is a question of taking of the small and large seminary, of the cathedral and the university. Would you feel, dear Don Luigi, to be part of this new expedition and mission of a new kind? [...] I think this is a providential occasion for you. I pray: You pray also for the same purpose».
But once again "Monsignor Carsana, bishop of Como, pressed to return and Don Guanella felt he had to obey".
Don Guanella would later write: «And I am accompanying a copy of a letter from Don Bosco in which he speaks to me of the planned mission in Santo Domingo. That letter was and still is a grave thorn in my heart. But I felt I could and ought first of all to do good to my diocese with some institution, and now I am more closely convinced that it was I who owed and was called to return».

5. In Traona and in Olmo
Don Guanella, who returned to the diocese in September 1878, was destined for Traona, where he could have built the longed-for house for the poor that the Bishop himself had presented to him to solicit his return. «Up there, as you well know, you have disused houses and convents for those foundations that I hear you have fixed in your soul, but then make sure they are not fantasies of a hot brain and baleful illusions. Prove for yourself that I bless you." However, Don Luigi did not lose sight of the reason why he had returned.
In August 1879 he wrote to the Salesian Don Domenico Milanesio: «Now I am here to direct an institution in the Diocese cum intentione petendi Americam ad Societatem Sales. Si casu in patria institutio non obtineat».
After the bankruptcy experience of Traona, in 1881, from the solitude of Olmo, he went on thinking again: «My [Salesian] confreres and my own pupils carry out beautiful enterprises to the glory of God and of souls in Europe and beyond, and me here? ».
In fact, on 5 September 1881 he returned to confide in Don Bosco, renewing his complete willingness to return to be assigned to overseas missions: «Reverend D. Bosco [...] But I, leaving Turin in 1878, told VP Rev .but that I felt in my heart one of these two: that is, an institution in the homeland that would later be entrusted to Don Bosco, or rather the return into the arms of Don Bosco himself so that, believing it appropriate, he would also send me to the American missions. The offers he made to me at the time for the Missions of San Domingo were very flattering, but at that time he overcame in me a desire to first do something good in my homeland. […] In this state of affairs, I take the liberty of bowing to you a few questions and begging you to answer me [...] as soon as he can. [...] I will be able to take better care of the return to this dear congregation or stick to the bishop's councils».
Again from Olmo, in October 1881, writing to the bishop Msgr. Pietro Carsana, renewed his desire to return to Don Bosco: «In 1878 then, inviting me to return to the Diocese, I allowed myself to point out that I would come when it seemed to the same ES that I could succeed in an institution in the Diocese, and you had given me your moral support in this. Otherwise, I explained to you that I would certainly leave for the American missions, to which Don Bosco himself invited me so forcefully. In this deliberation I would not have thought I was disobeying Your Excellency because I would have associated myself with the Salesian Congregation, which for the acceptance of individuals enjoys the privileges granted to Regular Orders. Under the conditions expressed, ES thought she was insisting on my return, and I came and was for three years in Traona with as much difficulty as you know. [...] That being the case, all I have to do is beg the ES to allow me access to the Salesian Congregation to which I still know I am accepted. I never ceased to show you this plan again and again during these years, when you let me see the difficulty of succeeding in Traona. If you bless me, I will always be grateful to you, and I will not neglect, however, in favor of the Diocese, to do all the good that may still be procured from me. [...] In the meantime, if you bless me to join the Salesian Society of Don Bosco. But if your ES does not grant me this grace, for some time I will still remain at your command, but always waiting for your Divine Providence to open up new ways to attend to the work of institution in question, or to take my leave if not ».

6. From Pianello del Lario to Como
In November 1881 Don Guanella was sent by the bishop to Pianello del Lario as parish administrator, after the hard experiences of Traona and Olmo.
He arrived there "almost a knight leapt from his steed, a little confused, humiliated and even a little indignant". «I didn't know what to do... The care of souls was not enough in a population of scarce 1000 inhabitants to exhaust my activity [...]. A thought hammered at me: "Are you on the street or outside?" [...] Having the right intention and then letting oneself be guided in everything and always by providence, this is the best way to succeed in things».
But finally "the hour of mercy" struck for him too.
On the evening of April 5, 1886, a small boat left the pier of the small town in the upper part of the lake, heading for Como. On board were two nuns, some orphan girls with few furnishings. Thus began the missionary adventure. Here, right in the heart of the city, what we know today as Casa "Divina Provvidenza" was opened.

7. In Grisons Switzerland: small missions
But Don Guanella's missionary heart was too big to remain within the Italian borders.
He often thought of Graubünden Switzerland: «The thought that the Valtellinesi were bordering the regions of the Protestant Graubünden Canton and traffickers always with the same and that it was also convenient that some bulwark of salvation should be erected for themselves, of help for the resident Graubünden people, this prompted the various foundations in the canton of Grisons».
Don Guanella recalled in his autobiographical memoirs: "In 1897, our friend and benefactor, the doctor Luigi Fezzi urged Don Guanella to go for a month to the heights of Montespluga in order to consolidate the convalescence for a pleurisy suffered". He went there in the month of July, as he himself recalled "in punishment of the doctors".
Don Guanella narrates: «One day [during this period], having arrived alone on the pass of the Alps [Passo dello Spluga] and having seen the valleys and the severe mountains of Val di Reno, he recited alone a few Rosaries and prayers for the conversion of those brothers» . A few days later, on 19 July, he went down to Splügen and "concluded with Messrs [Costante] Giuriani, [Giacomo] Tognoni, our men from Val San Giacomo, Pallavicini from Milan, as well as with Mr. Trepp, who took over the Bodenhaus hotel, the construction of a Catholic church in Splügendorf, possibly ending on the same day as St. Vincent of the coming year». At the beginning of May 1898 Fr Guanella and the master builder Antonio Annoni were in Splügen for the beginning of the construction works; on 6 May the first stone was laid. The inauguration took place on the following 10 September. Furthermore, don Guanella, of a nearby "house that was once an inn, thought of buying it [...] and buying a little land and a stable there, and thus building a villa in which a dozen beds were then accommodated for the purpose of climatic asylums".
Finally, Don Guanella took care to ensure the religious service, already functioning regularly from July-September 1899, as well as in Splügen also in Andeer, at the chapel that Don Gaudenzio Bianchi had built about thirty years earlier and which he himself later remodeled and expanded (1904).
But there was a valley even more in need, because Catholic worship had not been practiced for over three centuries. At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, Don Guanella favored the spread of Catholic worship in the Swiss Bregaglia valley, with the foundation of two Catholic stations: in Promontogno and in Vicosoprano.
«The bishop of Coira Monsignor [Giovanni Fedele] Battaglia was very kind to us in the works that were intended to be opened within the limits of his jurisdiction. Sincere and good as always [...] he added: "I am consoled by the thought that in the first years of my bishopric there was hardly a valley that possessed Catholic churches, and now I have only the Valle Bregaglia to provide for it". To which Don Guanella simply replied: "Allow me to try it myself and bless me". And the bishop: "I bless you, and I bless the 7 francs that I will give you to open a mission in the Bregaglia valley"».
Taking advantage of the work of Giuseppe Ghiggi of Villa di Chiavenna, Don Guanella bought a house in Promontogno to practice Catholic worship and ministry, inaugurated on 8 September 1900. Next to this house, in a dominant position on the slope, on the edge of the wood , Don Guanella in 1903 built, with the help of Count Giovanni Battista Salis Soglio, a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, inaugurated on June 12, 1904. In 1901 in nearby Vicosoprano Don Guanella set up a small oratory in a wooden shack, in later replaced by a large church, built «with persevering effort, or rather with sensitive Providence», dedicated to San Gaudenzio and inaugurated on 31 August 1909. In the spring of 1909, the Baroness Augusta de Thierry with the young Milanese engineer Spirito Maria Chiappetta (later to become a priest) began negotiations with the municipality of Vicosoprano for the purchase of the land next to the church. Here a building was built, completed in the following spring, intended for the residence of the priest and also used as a summer resort.
The fruits of this sowing were not slow in arriving: «Proof of the consoling increase of the Catholic mission was the Corpus Domini procession which took place last Thursday in Vicosoprano, which assumes great importance, if one considers that for no less than four hundred years Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament has went out in triumph in Val Bregaglia».
These Catholic stations, according to the conception of their time, were considered real and proper missions: "These stations or small missions are assisted by one or more priests of the institute, who generally act as missionary parish priests".

8. Missionaries in Europe
Don Guanella wrote when thinking back to his pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1903: «The brief stop in Marseilles, a cosmopolitan city, where there are few churches, and those few which are almost deserted, suggests that as Missionaries are sent to distant lands, there too they would be appropriate, in aid especially to our Italians who work there. Unfortunately, the absence of the Priest, the distance from the homeland and perhaps from the family, are dissolving conditions, and the faith unsafe at first, then null, leaves many workers without defense against temptations and against sects».

9. Invitations for a missionary presence in Asia and Africa
In 1902 «the Priest Guanella, out of devotion to the Holy Places, took part in the devout pilgrimage presided over and accompanied by His Em. Cardinal Ferrari. In Beyruth, in Damascus, in Jerusalem, Guanella met with Bishops, Patriarchs and Consuls to see if a foundation would be possible there. In Bethlehem and at Solomon's Baths, in the place called Hortus conclusus, it seemed that the idea might take root, but then everything collapsed».
Don Guanella's wish will come true about seventy years later, in 1975 through the work of his confrere Don Ugo Sansi, with the opening of a special school for the disabled in Nazareth.
In 1904 three bishops from Egypt (the Patriarch of Alexandria of Egypt, the bishop of Thebes and another prelate) came to visit the agricultural colony of Monte Mario in Rome and expressed their desire to have a similar work in their country. "And he felt the desire to rush to the aid of those poor missionary Bishops rekindle". We also know from the biography of the saint written by Don Leonardo Mazzucchi that the multiple invitations of Msgr. Ghaly, Vicar General of Alexandria in Egypt and a colonel from London to open a Work in Egypt, Fr Guanella concluded: «Alas! The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. May the Lord of good wishes keep us in mind: and in the meantime let us pray and hope that others will do after us what was not granted to us». For this desire, however, we still have to pray to divine Providence…

10. In the United States of America
In November 1912 Don Guanella confided to Msgr. Attilio Bianchi "that he had always had the desire to go to America, but given his advanced age he had given up all thoughts of him".
It was the Scalabrinian Father Vittorio Gregori who encouraged Don Guanella, who was in Rome in November 1912 on the occasion of the jubilee of the approval of the Missionaries of San Carlo (Scalabriniani): «Don't consider your age... come with me to America for his projects and pious intentions.... I will accompany him faithfully».
The reasons that led the elderly priest (he was seventy-one years old) to undertake such a tiring journey and such a difficult mission to the United States must have been deeply rooted in his heart: he was aware of the need to bring help to our fellow countrymen who emigrated.
He had personally known the discouragement and the excruciating pain of saying goodbye to his own land. Some of his relatives had emigrated to America when he was still a teenager, but the image of their departure had always remained in his heart. Departures full of tears, an uncertain journey; then, in a foreign land, difficulties of all sorts and above all moral and religious dangers. «When in 1854 my cousins ​​Levi and later the whole family of my aunt Maria Orsola Guanella, widow Levi, emigrated to North America, it was an acute pain for everyone, as if the unknown were to swallow them up».
We have already mentioned how from Savogno in 1868 he managed to send, thanks to the interest of Don Giovanni Bosco, a Piedmontese priest, Don Gabriele Momo to Genoa City (where his relatives and many of his fellow villagers had emigrated). Furthermore, he did not fail to send them some numbers of La Divina Provvidenza: «This modest periodical reaches not far from the Mississippi to bring them closer to their distant homeland, and to maintain in them their love for the beautiful country and for our works to which they want to send help".
In December 1912 Don Guanella undertook the long journey from Le Havre to the United States in the company of Don Gregori. He wanted to personally evaluate the opportunities that presented themselves to sow the seed of a foundation even in that "new world". «Weakness and timidity of ours not having come here at least ten years earlier. We had the desire even before ten years ago, but we had to wait for the call from above».
Six months later, at the beginning of May 1913, from the port of Naples, after a prayer at the Shrine of Pompeii and a meeting with Bartolo Longo, Sr. Rosa Bertolini, Sr. Sofia Iametti, Sr. Giacomina Ravasio, Sr. Claudina Bernasconi set sail on the steamer Ivernia , Sr. Savina Andreotti and Sr. Maria del Co' to Chicago. Sister Rosa Bertolini, from Campo Tartano, was at the head of the small group of pioneers. She was accompanied on the trip by the engineer Aristide Leonori, whom Sister Rosa did not hesitate to define as "a true guardian angel".
Don Luigi did not leave them alone. For them he had written a "handbook" of a missionary nature with the significant title of Come with me for the American missionary nuns used in the Congregation of the Daughters of Santa Maria della Provvidenza in Como (1913), a precious spiritual accompaniment for Sister Rosa Bertolini and her sisters in the United States of America.
In these pages his charisma of charity finds its typical form of expression intertwined with the missionary ideal, in the perspective of helping young mission churches to develop their pastoral plan by enriching it with the testimony of charity towards the least, often left on the margins from the local culture.
«Missionary life in a broad sense is proper to all people who are concerned with doing good for their own souls and for the souls of others. Strictly speaking, missionary life belongs to those people who feel like saying to God: "Here I am, O Lord, I am here, send me wherever you want", and who hear clearly the voice of God speaking to them: "Go, teach all nations , baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all those teachings which Jesus Christ has preached about them". Don Guanella also makes a comparison: «Two years ago, the noblewoman Countess Lapeyrière died and tied to the works of Don Luigi Guanella four grandiose wall embroideries, on which she with persevering work of twelve years and with equal skill, on silk, with the ago described the four parts of the world. The missionary daughter of the House of Divine Providence must know how to embroider in the mind, heart and body itself the beauty of embroidery from the four parts of the world, because each part of it can be sent or at least can be assigned to carry out its own work with people from any and all parts of the world". And he continues: «In the Lord's vineyard all work and all work to taste; the common work of prayers and works will undoubtedly obtain the longed-for intent. In this respect all... can be missionary, because each and every one of them directly or indirectly contributes to it. This missionary spirit must invade everyone's soul; this spirit occupies you all and always; but note that this spirit, to be the spirit of God, must be fervent, but at the same time calm, serene, effective, more in deeds than in words". And again: «you will have to deal with people of multiple languages ​​and nations. You will find it hard to understand them and they will have a hard time understanding you. But you will make yourself understood with the language of charity and with the warmth of the divine love that melts you inside».

11. Support for missionaries
Don Guanella also always had contact with various missionaries, favoring their works. «I can say - says Don Martino Cugnasca - that he always loved the Missions of which he was so busy both in the parish ministry and in our Houses, enrolling in the various missionary Associations, collecting in his churches, sending personal alms. [...] For the Missionaries he had people pray frequently and he wanted the various bulletins of the Missions to be read at table and also to be spoken of frequently to the children ». Don Leonardo Mazzucchi adds: «The Servant of God [...] welcomed the Missionaries into his homes, providing them with every help, recommended their needs, read their reports with interest; so in his sermons and conversations he often repeated the events of Cardinal Massaia, he said with affection of Cardinal Cagliero and the Salesian Missionaries ».
Cardinal Guglielmo Massaia (1809-1889), was a Capuchin missionary friar in Ethiopia, who in 1846 was nominated apostolic vicar for the Ethiopian Galla population by Pope Gregory XVI. «What prodigies of facts are not told of the aforementioned Massaia in relation to conquests for the faith? Just read his classic book - My Thirty-five Years of Apostolate in Ethiopia! Great and very useful thought was that of the Roman Propaganda, of having sent the Capuchins under the prefect Father da Carbonara to evangelize the Ethiopian peoples».
Don Guanella was well acquainted with Don Biagio Verri (1819-1884), the "apostle to the African girls", active in Egypt. «Every heart of faith admires those heroes who, having left their homeland and relatives, venture into very distant lands [...] in search of souls to save. The venerable Priest Biagio Verri, of the Diocese of Milan and almost our fellow citizen in the province of Como, accompanying Ven. servant of God Nicolò Olivieri and then succeeding him in the apostolic labors of the redemption of the African Morettes, he made himself especially loved and revered by the Milanese and by the people of Como together. The Director of the Piccola Casa was lucky enough to be in some epistolary relationship with Father Verri». Sister Giuseppina, Don Verri's missionary companion, presented herself to Don Guanella in May 1894, expressing her desire for a life of the missionary to be written. "The pious nun concluded, 'I am confident that the description of Father Verri's virtues and hardships will in no small way contribute to the cause, even his beatification'". Don Guanella turned to Don Luigi d'Antuono, a friend of the house, «so good in mind and heart, he would have even lightly taken on the task of illustrating the life of a confrere so worthy [...] but with the condition that the Verri's life was inserted in the columns of Providence [...] Thus may the great soul of Verri, from Heaven look on him with pity, and continue his valid protection». Don D'Antuono immediately began the August issue of La Providenza, the periodical of the Guanellian Works, with the first of a series of articles entitled “The Redeemer of the Morettes namely D. Biagio Verri Mis. Ap.. A bit of history”. He prefaced his article with a long preface: «These pages, written more with the heart than with the pen, portray and revive. among us that Don Biagio Verri, who sacrificed his life and substance for ransom, of the unhappy Morettes, who there in Africa form the industry of cruel and barbarous human flesh merchants. His noble and dear figure, raised before the gaze of this century, which boasts of refined and perfect civilization, will shake, I am sure, the breasts of his delicate children and will bend them, if nothing else, to the admiration of the great apostle and to the compassion of those poor creatures, treated worse than beasts by their most cruel and tyrannical masters». Don D'Antuono then continued to write Verri's life in the December 1994 number with "Barni", in the January 1895 number "Continuazione del Verri" and "Proemio", in the March 1895 number with "Birth of D. Biagio Verri and his childhood”, in the April 1995 issue with “First dawning of his holiness”, then for some unknown reason, it was interrupted.
Don Guanella had great esteem for Msgr. Daniele Comboni (1831-1881), the "apostle of Africa", canonized by John Paul II on 5 October 2003, and followed his priests, the Comboni Missionaries, Sons of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with interest. We trace it in a letter written by him to the Jesuit Provincial Father in May 1905: «the MRP Ansperti, staying for some years among the Sons of the Sacred Heart in Verona, conformed the valiant missionaries of Africa of the Venerable Comboni to the spirit of sacrifice».
Just one of the Comboni Missionaries, the Milanese Father Giuseppe Beduschi (1874-1924), a missionary among the Scilluk of Sudan, who in 1910 had to repatriate from Africa to get back to health and had taken the opportunity to collect subsidies for his missions. In Como, with the help of Don Aurelio Bacciarini, he organized some public conferences in the Broletto hall, in front of a large audience
Don Guanella in July 1910 will write a letter to the bishop of Lugano, mgr. Alfredo Peri Morosini, precisely to urge him to generous help for the African missions: «Your Excellency who has not been too generous with me and with the Roveredo shelter where there are hundreds of your poor diocesans so far, at least with our dearest brothers Ham's sons in central Africa, to plead in their favor, and Fr Aurelio Bacciarini, a mischievous boy known to her, and the MRD Beduschi Missionary of the Sacred Heart of Verona. Date et dabitur vobis».
Before leaving for Africa, Father Beduschi wanted to ensure continuous help from Como, therefore Don Bacciarini interested Don Luigi Ramiro Lucca at the Episcopal Curia and so, with the Bishop's permission, the "Pro Africa" ​​was founded in Como, presided over by Vicar General, Msgr. Joseph Carughi.
Don Guanella also watched the Franciscan missions in Libya very carefully, because he was a personal friend of Msgr. Ludovico Antomelli (1863-1927), bishop of Leptis Magna and first Apostolic Vicar of Libya. «The Superior Don Luigi Guanella knew and esteemed for years long practice since the now Bishop came down as a modest student from the Convent of Dongo in the hospitable house of the then parish priest of Pianello Lario». La Divina Provvidenza wrote in November 1913: «The sons of Saint Francis had the sweet and glorious mission of caring for religious interests and of governing the Church of Italian Africa, a mission of high civilization and patriotism. And last October, full of holy enthusiasm, fifteen religious left Milan under the guidance of the new Apostolic Vicar of Libya, Msgr. Lodovico Antomelli to bring over there to the dark continent, now opened in the light of Christian civilization, the promising work of their zeal and their energy. We, humble children of Providence, could not remain indifferent to an enterprise of such happy and glorious auspices, much more for the intimate relationships of sympathy that bind us with the great Franciscan family, even more for the lively senses of esteem and personal friendship of our superior with the most worthy and illustrious Msgr. Antomelli and with some of his companions. [...] as a modest external manifestation of our sentiments, our Superior thought of accompanying one of our confreres from Milan to Rome with the lucky missionary group. And we prayed for a safe journey and God's blessings." The same mgr. Antomelli would write to Don Guanella immediately after his arrival in Libya a very significant letter to shed light on their relationship of esteem and friendship: «My excellent Fr Luigi, I omit to call you Canon, because it is more dear to me to greet you confidentially with the usual D Luigi, as I learned in Dongo as early as 1886. Therefore, my beloved and venerated Fr Luigi, I have not been able to keep the half-promise he had made to you, that is, to come to Como before leaving Italy. I didn't lack the good will, but the available time. However, I tried to remedy the involuntary omission by visiting your home in Rome with all my fifteen missionary traveling companions. I won't tell you the welcome your children gave us: they could not have been more cordial or more fraternal... I feel... the need to congratulate you warmly for the good that your children do in Rome, as elsewhere. [...] She, my good. Fr Luigi, help me with your prayers, and also recommend me to wealthy people, since the needs are immense. You always love me, and live long years. I cordially bless you and with you all your houses.'
The confrere mentioned in the chronicle, who had accompanied the group of missionaries as far as Rome, was Don Filippo Bonacina, to whom one of the Franciscans "friend" Father Basilio Chiaroni di Dongo writing to him from Tripoli on 8 October 1913 said: "I will remember always with affection of your complacency, and of your rev. my superiors". And in another letter of the following April, again to Don Bonacina, Father Chiaroni, from the Garian mountains, wrote: «Please accept my most affectionate greetings and respects to extend to the Rev. Superior also in the name of His Excellency and of all the brethren". Don Guanella takes his cue from this letter, which he gladly publishes «as well as as a sign of our friendship for the zealous missionary and for his Order, to draw public attention to the eminently social and patriotic work that they so providentially carry out there in the new lands of Italy the good religious […] and also to awaken generous initiatives in the public for the benefit of this Society so in need of material aid. In some cities, such as Milan, the missionary apostolate has recently worked wonders of charity [...]. It would not be possible to give life to such edifying charity competitions and other initiatives to support the Franciscan Work in Libya and give it a way, for example. to be able to erect a chapel in each detachment of the vast Mission? Such is the vow that Don Luigi Guanella and the Houses of Divine Providence wish blessed by God, fertilized by the generosity of good souls and appreciated as a tribute of admiration and esteem by the glorious Order of St. Francis" .
Furthermore, in 1915 Don Guanella recommended to the public from La Divina Provvidenza the Franciscan Mission of Libya conducted in Derna by Father Gabriele Redaelli, whose request for help had been re-launched to Don Guanella by his confrere Father Cristoforo Flocchini: «For that holy solidarity which unites all works of charity and religion, as well as our particular ties with the Franciscan Order, sure of offering such a wide field to public generosity without any damage to our initiatives, we gladly give place to the following appeal for a high work of religion and patriotism . (The Directorate of the newspaper). - Fr Luigi Guanella, everyone knows it, has by now become one of the main champions of Christian Charity; one could say that He has found the way to open a new inexhaustible source of Divine Providence in favor of the unhappy to whom fortune or civil society was not generous. He has no limits to the outpouring of his heart, and extends himself with equal interest to all the works that have the good of humanity as their purpose. Italy carried out the conquest of Tripoli. Fr Guanella immediately realizes the particular needs of the poor Catholic Mission of Libya in order to be able to expand alongside material domination, and proposes in this same periodical, his able coadjutor, a very slight deprivation of all those who usually send their money up in smoke come to the aid of the Mission. The current circumstance demands that we come to the practice, at least by the best, of a small deprivation for an immediate, grave and holy need, which from Libya solicits our assistance (P. Flocchini, ofm)».
We also recall that in 1883 Don Luigi Guanella dedicated his operetta Un illustrious son of the Christian people to the "Reverend fathers reformed in the convent of Dongo". Biographical notes around fr. Eusebio Maria da Dongo Bishop in Hu-Nan, brief biography of Msgr. Eusebio Semprini (1823–1895), Franciscan native of Dongo and missionary bishop in China. «In contemporary history, among others, Dongo boasts of an illustrious son among the people, Eusebio Semprini, bishop of Tiberiopoli. An illustrious son among the people honors his country more than others". With Msgr. Semprini don Guanella had correspondence and, in the spring of 1888, had him as a guest in the houses of Como and Pianello del Lario. With the proceeds from the sale of a biography of Semprini - written by the priest don Edoardo Torriani on the interest of Guanella himself and with the help of the clergy of the Pieve - he promoted the dedication of a bust to him, the work of Ampellio Ragazzoni.
Furthermore Don Luigi was godfather of Mass for Father Gabriele Dell'Era (1857-1898), of the convent of Dongo, a missionary in Albania. The latter, in a letter addressed to Don Luigi, wrote: «When you have the opportunity to go to Dongo, see that you visit my sister and console her on my behalf».
Don Luigi considered the death of Father Rodolfo Fasola di Brunate (1891-1915), who entered the Foreign Missions of Milan and died very young at the age of 24, to be a domestic mourning. «He loved our house distinctly and among us he lingered, even hesitating, for a time, whether to stay with us; for which we, starting with the Superior Don Luigi Guanella, loved him as son and brother, and we followed his fate with interest and desire, and mourned his death in his domestic mourning».
Don Guanella had welcomed, moved, on a visit to Como, his very friend Don Luigi Lasagna Salesiano, (1850 - 1895) his companion in Turin and Alassio, chosen by Don Bosco for the second Salesian missionary expedition to Uruguay. In 1893 he was elected second Salesian bishop, he mourned him as a martyr of the anticlerical sect two years later (November 1895) in Brazil, while shortly before the elevation to the episcopate of the third Salesian bishop, the most zealous Msgr. Giacomo Costamagna (1846 - 1921), also very dear to him for a mutual affectionate relationship.

12. «The whole world is your homeland»
By now the path had been traced and on his death Don Guanella left a moral commitment to his Congregations: "The whole world is your homeland". "It cannot be finished, as long as there are poor people to shelter, needs to provide for them".
His successors will reach, in addition to Italy, Switzerland and the United States, Poland, Romania, Spain, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, the Philippines, Vietnam, the Solomon Islands, India, Israel, Nigeria, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania.
A discreet presence, in the most disparate places, to take care of the most fragile and defenseless human life and work for its integral promotion, dealing daily with old and new poverties with a typically Guanellian style which, as the Guanellian Educational Project (PEG) reminds us ) "it is a way of evangelization and it is our contribution to the mission of the Church".

Folonaro Adriano SdC

Attachments:

Don Guanella, missionary of charity.pdf

Not a few periodicals spoke of this ingenious conference, which, although almost improvised, was very welcome to all those present, and will certainly be among the fond memories of the honors paid to Galileo Comense. We believe it our duty to keep word of it again to please our associates, and benefactors and friends, who desire a detailed report.
The Shelter of S. Maria was beautifully decorated as a party, on 2nd June last it presented a very gracious show. Carpets, tapestries, flags and a spring of flowers everywhere. Along the vast courtyard which leads to the Institute, there were three triumphal arches adorned with myrtle and laurel. On the front of the first was the following inscription:

OR AMATEURS, OR FOLLOWERS OF THE GREAT
CHE
THE LIGHTNING TO THE SKY KIDNAPPED
MADE OBEDIENT
TO THE NOTES OF SCIENCE AT THE SERVICES OF HUMANITY
INCHING A NEW ERA
OF PROGRESS.
ENTER
IN THIS PIOUS HOUSE
TO THE WONDERFUL, TO THE ORPHANS,
OPENED BY CHARITY, BY FAITH,
VIRTUE
BEAUTIFULLY PRIME
IN THE IMMORTAL
ALESSANDRO VOLTA

And the same in French, and in English stood out, on the other two arches.
The meeting was fixed for 10, and towards that hour our dear guests could be seen appearing on both sides, in twos and threes and stopping every moment to contemplate in ecstasy the immense and stupendous panorama that from hill offers itself to the spectator. Welcomed by the Rector of the House D. Luigi Guanella and by the Vice-President of the Committee Signor Ferdinando Geronimi, amidst the sweet songs of the orphan girls, and greeted by cheers and clapping, the telegraphers entered the Hospice. After the usual introductions, they set about visiting the Institute with diligent and affectionate curiosity, and they wanted to be minutely informed of everything. We saw some of them with notebooks in hand making continuous notes.
When the time came for lunch, they all gathered in the room set up for this purpose. What a nice surprise! The coats of arms of all nations hung from the walls with mottos and inscriptions relating to each of them as well as to the centenary honors of the immortal scientist. Seeing telegraphers from all over the world seated at the table, seeing them huddled together as if they had known each other for a long time, and the sincere joy and joviality that hovered in that fraternal symposium, aroused indescribable feelings in the heart. If we wanted to enumerate the guests one by one, the entire eight pages of our little journal would not be enough for us. Let our associates therefore be satisfied with those we note here. The illustrious Volta family were represented by their nephew Cav. Prof. Zanino; the War Ministry by Major Cav. Colletti and a captain; His Ea the Bishop of Como by Canon D. Tomaso Verga; the Congress Committee by the president G. Cav. Spreafico and by Cav. Donadio Technical General Manager; the French legation by Mr. Montpellier with 20 of his companions, the German by the Honorable Deputy Kareis with 15 employees, there were representatives of Bavaria, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Argentina, Spain, England, Scotland, Ireland, the United States of America, Japan and all of Italy. A select group of cultured and kind ladies and young ladies contributed greatly to the hilarity and liveliness of the meeting, who conversed with our guests, masterfully speaking German, French and English.
Long the string of toasts, all gracious and greatly applauded, Can spoke. D. Tomaso Verga praising the union of faith with science. Father Giovanni Cappuccino from Milan spoke, greeting Volta, son of the world and father of his thoughts, thanking the telegraph operators for the honor done to the Casa della D. Providenza; the vice president of the Committee, Mr. Ferdinando Geronimi, addressed the telegraphers with fine words.
The Head of the French Representation toasted Italy and France and the great ingenuity of Volta, the regenerator of Science and Civilization. After so many other toasts, Signorina telegraphist Del Bon stood up and with words seasoned with exquisite kindness, in the name of her companions and hers, thanked the Rector of the Hospital. Lastly Fr Guanella took the floor and gave cordial thanks to those present, who in the midst of the grandiose Voltian festivities did not forget the House of Santa Maria and with warm words touched on the erection of the electric Lighthouse, which will have to send its rays onto the cradle and on the Volta mausoleum. A volley of applause crowned Fr Luigi's words, who was carried triumphantly through the room.
It was the stroke of noon, the time fixed for the Telegraph Congress, but the Congressmen did not know how to get away from the Binda. You had to see how affectionately they caressed our little orphans, asking them a thousand questions and inviting them to repeat their songs. The fact is that 14 pm came and then we had to leave, and the departure was a moment of real emotion for everyone. The professor. Zanino Volta would have liked to close the performance with a speech, but the late hour prevented him from doing so.
What and how many good impressions the telegraphers brought back from this visit, they attested on that day with many demonstrations; they testified to it at the banquet at the Eden in Milan, often bursting out in toasts to Don Guanella, they testified to it in the boarding school arranged for them in Bologna, on Galvani's commemorative feasts by the respective Committee. Here is the text of the telegram:
«To you, apostle of charity, the congress participants, always mindful of the splendid welcome at S. Maria della Provvidenza in Como, send an expression of their gratitude from S. Michele in Bosco together with the representatives of the city and the Bologna office and Votes for the prosperity of your humanitarian institutions".
We are very pleased to have proposed this convention, which in the opinion of those who took part in it, could not have turned out better and we send new greetings and thanks to the telegraphers, begging them not to forget the Casa di S. Maria which is honored by their visit .

Divine Providence – July 1899

ECHO OF THE VOLTA PARTY

With the types of the LF Cogliati factory, the brothers Cav. Ferdinando and Emilio Geronimi, have given birth to a splendid illustrated Chronicle of the first International Congress of Telegraphers of the professional telegraphic competition and of Volta festivities in general.
In it, after a brilliant French preface written with panache by Mr. Silvio Deponti, the Geronimi brothers in 180 pages interspersed with splendid phototypes of places and people, give the report of the festivities of the Congress participants in their visits to Como, Milan, Bologna, Florence and Rome.
Then follow the reports written in their language by the French, German and English Telegraphers, and we excerpt from the report of the conspicuous French delegate Mr. Joseph Géraud, with the kind permission of the authors, the section that speaks of the visit to the Binda which is reported in the volume at page 104 the entire facade and the interior on p. 107 and 108. Also the portrait of Don Guanella is reported twice, and certainly the kindness with which the hospices of Providence and their Founder are treated in the Chronicle of Volta's festivities deserve all our gratitude. The Chronicle on page 216 says:
« La journée est radieuse et le paysage ravissant. Par joyeuses bands, à travers de tout petits sentiers fleuris, foulant des gazons melleux, cueillant des roses pour nos compagnes, nous arrions vers midi à l'Asile de la Providence de La Binda où le vénérable abbé Guanella, directeur et fondateur, nous a conviés à un grand déjeuner.
Don Luigi Guanella is a grand philanthrope, en même temps qu'un digne ecclésiastique et un ami sincere de la science et du progrès. Son nom di lui est honoré dans toute la Péninsule, particulièrement en Lombardie. Lui c'est l'Apôtre de la Charité, nous disent nos collègues de Milan, qui tous lui prodiguent les témoignages du plus affectueux respect di lui. Ses diverses maisons de refuge of him contiennent plus de 2000 déshérités de la vie: vieillards, infirmes, aveugles, orphelins.
La Binda est sise à mi-chemin de San Martino et la Cappelletta, en face de Camnago, dont la séparé le jon vallon ou nous venons de faire notre agréable école buissonnière. De vastes bâtiments blancs, aux longues rangées de fenêtres, occupent la crete d'un coteau verdoyant. Autour sont des jardins ombrages par d'énormes magnolias. Une sorte de campanile, une tourelle plutôt, se dresse sur la toiture et sert de piédestal à une haute statue du Christ, dont la main levée bénit le monde et dont la bouche ouverte semble prononcer ces belles paroles: «Aimez-vous les uns les others".
N'est-ce pas de cette divine maxime que découlent nos forme Modernes de Fraternité ou Charité, de Solidarité, ou simplement d'Humanité, toutes exprimant la sympathie réciproque qui devrait pénétrer nos cœurs?
A peine le seuil francs, l'abbé Guanella, suivi de quelques personnes, vient a nous, les deux mains tendues. Son visage laughed at him, qu'éclairent deux yeux pétillants d'intelligence, reflète, dans un bienveillant sourire, la bonté d'âme de ce noble ami des pauvres et des malheureux.
Le digne émule de Saint Vincent de Paul a conçu un grand projet: il veut placer aux pieds du Christ qui domine la Binda un phare électrique, dont les feux guideront le voyageur perdu dans la nuit, en rayonnant sur le tombeau de Volta et sur la ville de Come. Géniale idea dont nous, artisans de la Pile, avons le devoir de faciliter la réalisation dans la mesure de nos forces: modeste obole et propaganda auprès de tous les admirateurs de l'Ancêtre.
La maison est en fête. Sur l'avenue qui precede la porte d'entrée, trois arcs de triomphe avec inscriptions. Dans la cour et la longue salle à manger, ce ne sont que festons et astragales de verde parsemée de fleurs; des bannières et des drapeaux multicolores flottent partout. Autour d'un harmonium, en plein air, sont groupées en cercle des fillettes; quelques-unes aux yeux vitreux, ou clos, sont aveugles, comme le maestro qui directs them en les accompaniments de son instrument. C'est l'Hymne des télégraphistes que chante ce chœur enfantin pour nous souhaiter la bienvenue.
Le banquet a lieu dans une immense salle de l'établissement, dont la simplicité a été rehaussée de guirlandes de feuillage et de chromolithographies représentant Volta, dans la chambre que nous venons de visiter, observant les phénomènes de sa pile a colonna. Trois longues rangées de tables étroites, avec une chaise de paille devant chaque couvert. Le service est fait par des pensionnaires de la Binda, jeunes garçons, ou hommes les moins invalides. Au center de la table de droite, le vénérable chanoine Don Tommaso Verga, dont la soutane est ornée d'un liseré violet, préside, comme représentant de l'évêque de Come. A ses côtés of him, l'abbé Guanella, l'avocat Zanino Volta, représentant la famille de l'Ancêtre, le major Colletti et le capitaine Lega, du génie; une dame âgée très distinguée, et sa fille di lei, très jolie; divers personnages, dont M. Spreafico, president of the Comité d'organisation; les deux vice-présidents de la délégation française, MM. Trouhet and Montpellier; un docteur esbenes lettres, voisin au M. Rozet et du narrateur et ensuite les autres chefs de délégation.
The menus entail that of Italian dishes and wines of the country: veal tonné (veau à la sauce de thon, Risotto alla Certosina (recommended with a green sauce), etc. A great animation joyeuse règne pendant tout ce frugal repas, surtout du côté de nos gentilles ladies.
Au dessert, the series of toasts begins. Un superbe capucin, jeune encore, figure énergique à longue barbe, yeux noirs très vifs, traverse la salle et s'installe dans une chaire très simple, adossée au mur de gauche, en face du président du banquet.
"Gentlemen!" – clame-t-il, et dans cette belle langue italienne si sonore, avec de vibrants accents qu'coltant de grands gestes oratoires, il salue, lui, né dans le pays de Volta, au nom du Comité Pro-Faro les illustrious représentants du plus puissant travail dynamique de la nature.
Cette attitude martiale, ces phrases eloquentes débitées avec feu, cette robe de bure elle-même, nous captivent vivement. Il est bien “dans le train”, ce moine, comme le sont, paraît-il, tous les jeunes prêtres et religieux italiens, depuis que Léon XIII a aiguillé franchement l'Eglise vers la science et le progrès.
Father Giovanni nous donne l'impression de ces hardis companions de Pierre l'Ermite, prêchant la première Croisade au cri de: “Dieu le veut!” Il nous parle de fraternité des peuples, d'union des cœurs et des pensées; de sa patrie italienne of him, qui est orgueilleuse de la gloire qui auréole ses enfants of him; de l'ombre d'Alessandro Volta qui dans son immortalité triumphant of him, nous sourit et nous remercie. The term par un "brindisi" à notre santé et un autre au progrès resplendissant de l'électricité.
L'orateur, ai-je besoin de le dire? he a vraiment électrisé tous les convives, qui applaudissent à tout rompre chacune de ses phrases di lui, et lui font une belle ovation quand il descend de la chaire.
M. Ferdinand Geronimi lui succède et prononce, en italien, une chaude allocution; the parle des mérites et des vertus du grand homme de bien qu'est l'abbé Guanella, de son noble project du phare; the remercie de l'accueil inoubliable that the Congressists of all nations ont found à la Binda, et term en portant des "toasts" à la famille de Volta, à Luigi Guanella, à Come, etc.
L'assistance applaudit, à chaque toast, en criant: «Viva Volta! Long live Guanella! Long live Como!...».
Don Guanella speaks ensuite, d'une voix tout émue; il est confus de tant d'honneur et rend de cordials grâces à ceux qui sont venus dans son asylum de la Providence. En quelques mots chaleureux, il explique que le phare électrique qu'il veut ériger devra porter ses rayons puissants sur le tombeau de Volta, sur toute la vallée et le lac.
Enthusiasm is indescribable; c'est moins le discours de l'abbé Guanella, que la sympathie qu'il inspire, qui le provoque. On entour le digne prêtre, en l'acclamant, et, tout à coup, des bras robustes le soulèvent de terre et le portent en triomphe autour de la salle en délire!
D'autres orateurs, dont Miss Delbó, escaladent successivement la chaire. Naturellement, les nombreux “toasts” portés se répètent souvent. M. Montpellier se fait l'interprète des Congressistes étrangers pour express leur gratitude de lui. M. Grignon proposed que les dames, nos gentilles collègues, fassent une quête au profit de l'Asile de la Providence. On applaudit et, dans des assiettes à dessert, une belle collecte de lires est vite réunie. M. Trouhet remet en outre, au nom de la délégation française, une offrande supplémentaire.
Mais il est deux heures, et la séance du Congrès devait commencer à 1 h. ½! Nous prenons rapidement congé dé l'abbé Guanella et de nos eminent hôtes; on nous remet à chacun a rouleau containing a beautiful chromolithographie, semblable à cellas qui ornamente les murs de la salle, et un numéro du journal «Pro Faro» le tout édité par la «Maison des Pauvres», de Milan, et nous descendons, en courant, la route de Come. Quelques minutes plus tard nous arrivals au Broletto”

Divine Providence – June 1900

It would be superfluous to recall that our communication today is marked by the pressing influence of the social networks.
The almost intuitive ease of use of current means of communication, never experienced in the past, gives many users the illusion of being actors on the digital planet just for having a means and launching the production of random messages.
Illusion, because more than 95% of new media users are simple consumers of "cultural products" thereby delighting the owners as well as wasting their own time – one of those rare resources. What Massimo Baldini says about the frontiers of language is interesting: we cannot use words at will and say that we are speaking a language. To say “this not also but” it's not engaging in what we call talking. Any of these four words are perfectly right but they don't go together like that. As a result, binding them like this becomes meaningless noise.
Today, with the availability of technology, we often see the absurd. Taking a picture and posting it does not mean committing yourself to responsible communication, capable of educating the imagination of the man of our time.
Does this mean we have to ignore new media? The answer is No. In fact, Pope Francis talks about the media as a gift from God. However, it is important to underline the instrumental nature of the media with no value in itself. For the Holy Father. “it is not the technology that decides whether communication is authentic or not, but the human heart and its ability to use it correctly.” The bet is to become actors and producers on the digital planet. In other words, to become mature users who take advantage of the gifts God places at our disposal. Actors who communicate faith, hope and charity. Indeed, in this 51^ma World Day of Social Communications, the Pope invites everyone to "communicate hope and trust in our time."
Do we have models to follow for such an enterprise? Just click on Don Guanella! Interest in the media is in the Guanellian DNA. The Holy Founder paid particular attention to the media of his time becoming a true actor. In fact, one of his first activities in Como, founding the Divina Provvidenza house, was the press, and a few years later he would found a monthly to inform and promote attention to the needy, that is to say, to promote charity. Attention to the media accompanied Don Guanella's life. Already in the seminary, he became interested in the world of printing. During his first years as a priest, we see his interest in the publishing world in the service of truth by awakening his country flock against false doctrines, supporting the experience of the peasant world and stoking the flame of good. Later he will make abundant use of brochures in the service of faith, etc. The Holy Founder was convinced of the relationship between the media and the construction of the collective imagination, and he felt the need to commit himself to strengthening the Christian and Catholic imagination. He had determinedly chosen his field between being an actor or a television viewer, active or passive, producer or consumer of media products. And which side are you on?

Father François Luvunu Lowu

One of Don Guanella's greatest concerns was always the search for vocations, for religious willing to continue and expand his enterprise by taking on the problem of the four "fs", as he said. In fact, in the first Houses of Providence four not very welcome guests reigned supreme, whose names began with an "effe": Fame, Freddo, Fumo and Annoyance. Even if they weren't always regular guests, they were nonetheless enemies with whom one had to fight on a daily basis.
Lombardy and other lands were always generous with vocations for the Work of Don Guanella, who had a very simple and effective way of inviting those who felt inclined to follow him... He often went out with six, eight of his patients whom he called " good children": they were the ones he welcomed with particular love, since they did not have sufficient intelligence to live with others. They generally had significant nicknames, as if they had been a sui generis team of bravoes: Pelapatàt, Leccapiàtt, Pallanin, Pestalàc...
It was a scene that had become familiar in Como and elsewhere to see Don Guanella taking his "bravo" for a walk; now seeing them, he said to himself:
- Here is Don Guanella taking his poor children for a walk!
Thus, for example, they went as far as Lurate Caccivio and the small group was often joined by the people they met on the street, so that a small procession formed around Don Guanella and his children.
When they arrived at the church, they greeted the parish priest and then they all went to say a prayer, after which Don Guanella made a short speech:
- My good friends of Lurate Caccivio, I have brought here among you my good children who possess a wealth that many intelligent people do not have, because they have innocence, the Grace of God. We have come to you to get some fresh air , because these good children need to have fun, to see this world. But above all they need to feel loved and they deserve it; they deserve it, believe me, not so much because they're nice, and they really are, but because they're good and innocent, even if they're unfortunate because they can't take care of themselves. And when they feel loved, they become even better and pray to the good Lord in their own way.
Isn't there therefore among you some soul who feels like embracing the religious life in order to be able to assist and love these creatures of the Lord?
Then he reassembled his group of "innocents", accompanied by a small and curious crowd of boys from the village and walked through the green meadows to go back down towards the shore of Lake Como satisfied that he had left the seed of unease with the thought that you can't be happy alone.

DON GUANELLA AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

During his studies in the Gallio College Don Guanella studied German (at the time compulsory since Lombardy was under the rule of the Habsburg Empire) and from the school year 1855-1856 (II class of grammar) until 1857-1858 (IV grammar) the his evaluation is always Eminent, with the last judgment expressed in these terms: «He knows the grammar very well, he is correct and happy in translations».
He then devoted himself to the study of French, probably in the Salesian period 1875-1878, so much so that in 1880 he translated a short meditation booklet. But then, taken by other interests and occupations, he was forced to abandon his linguistic studies, which more than others required regular application. He will recognize it with displeasure, but also with realism and irony, thinking back to the period of his training when he dictated his autobiography in 1913-1914: «[...] but then, lacking the exercise, time was lost, as in the study of German and also of French. If, as grown adults, they reviewed the subjects they studied, they would have profit and not a little satisfaction. But quis est hic et laudabimus eum? [Who is he? We will proclaim him blessed (Sir 31,9)]».
As an intelligent and educated person, he understood the importance of knowing a foreign language and as early as 1907 he instructed the novices of the Servants of Charity to apply themselves to this study. Furthermore, he gladly sent the clerics to the seminary of Chur, where they prepared themselves for the priesthood also with the study of German, necessary for the apostolate in the reformed Swiss valleys.
During his trip to the United States, observing the conditions of the Italians and other emigrated populations, he recognized ignorance of English as one of the main reasons for their difficult conditions and came to a very clear conclusion: «Those who do not know the language of the country will always underappreciated. He asked the Leonori sisters to teach some English to the sisters destined for the United States; to these first missionaries he dedicated a useful vademecum in which an entire chapter is dedicated to the need to learn the language: «Those who repudiate the study of the language [...] should prepare themselves for many humiliations and for being and calling themselves a half-person. It is true that the Italian nuns introduce themselves to take special care of the Italians; but do not let yourselves know that you want to limit yourself to the care and therefore to the language of the Italians, because this would make you less accepted by the civil authorities and also by the ecclesiastical authorities and you could not aspire to be believed to be international religious and even less cosmopolitan nuns, if you do not dedicated to the study and practice of the English language".
Don Guanella thought big for his congregations and wanted them to develop on "international" and "cosmopolitan" perspectives, embodied by people capable of overcoming the boundaries of their original cultural and linguistic belonging to become citizens of the world, capable of relating to everyone peoples above all with the universal language of evangelical charity.