They are volumes that collect the writings of don Luigi Guanella. Priority recipients of the publications are the two Guanellian Congregations, the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence and the Servants of Charity, and those who inspire their life and their actions to don Guanella's message.
These writings on the Founder will also be useful to scholars who want to know more about the Italian Church in the second half of the XNUMXth century and the first decades of the XNUMXth century, and in particular to those who intend to better document the social commitment of part of many children of the Church.
The present volumes, like the others that will follow, do not offer the critical texts which would have required much longer times; nonetheless it proposes to offer a serious documentation capable of making the journey of don Guanella and his religious family understood.
Volume I - "Writings for the liturgical year"
Luigi Guanella, Writings for the liturgical year (Edited and unpublished works by Luigi Guanella, I), edited by Bruno Capparoni and Fabrizio Fabrizi, introduction by Carlo Lapucci, Rome, Nuove Frontiere, 1992, CXVII-1400 p.
With a simple and direct style, the solid theological arguments of the great Jesuit orator Paolo Segneri (1624-1694), the main source which inspired the author, are brought back to the daily practice of preaching and evangelical explanation. The main liturgical feasts, the Sundays per annum, the time of Lent, the months dedicated to the Madonna, the Sacred Heart, the faithful deceased are retraced through clear and intense lessons, from which a fine pastoral sensitivity often emerges. The introduction to the volume and series, by an expert connoisseur of popular religiosity, is an extensive and documented study on Luigi Guanella, starting from his writings, in the social, cultural and ecclesiastical context of the time.
II/1 Volume - Historical and hagiographic writings, 1. Historical writings
Luigi Guanella Historical and hagiographic writings, 1. Historical writings, (Edited and unpublished works of Luigi Guanella, II/1), edited by Bruno Capparoni and Fabrizio Fabrizi, Rome, Nuove Frontiere, 1995, LIX-1217 p.
Of the forty-five Guanellian "operettas", the volume includes only four, but they are those that embrace a truly universal perspective, as the titles eloquently indicate: "From Adam to Pius IX". "Outline of the Struggles and Triumphs of the Universal Church (three courses)" and "The Glories of the Pontificate". "From Adam to the Priestly Jubilee of HH Leo XIII". The author takes up the famous and ponderous "Histoire universelle de l'Eglise catholique depuis le commencement du monde jusqu'à nos jours" by Abbot Rohrbacher (1789-1856) and brings it back to the level of a popular, elementary and pleasant ecclesiastical history , full of characters, anecdotes and moral teachings, to show the presence and providentiality of divine intervention in all times.
II/2 Volume - Historical and hagiographic writings, 2. Hagiographic writings
Luigi Guanella, Historical and hagiographic writings, 2. Hagiographic writings, (Edited and unpublished works of Luigi Guanella, II/2), edited by Bruno Capparoni and Fabrizio Fabrizi, Rome, New Frontiers, 1997, LXVII-654 p.
With different styles and forms, eleven figures of exemplary Christians are presented to the knowledge and devotion of the people, from the great names of holiness to the humblest and most hidden faithful. Girolamo Emiliani and Francesco d'Assisi, the bishops Gottardo, Carlo Borromeo, Abbondio and Agrippino, Rocco and Andrea da Peschiera, together with their contemporaries Eusebio Semprini, Anna Succetti and Francesca Morello, overall define a clear spiritual approach: absolute fidelity to the Church, love of poverty, missionary impetus, fervent prayer, industrious charity. These are the main lines of the Author's "hagiographic profile", whose introduction also underlines the strong attachment to the faith traditions of his land and his people.
Volume III - Moral and catechetical writings
Luigi Guanella, Scritti morali e catechistici, (Edited and unpublished works of Luigi Guanella, III), edited by Fabrizio Fabrizi, introduction by Piero Pellegrini, Rome, Nuove Frontiere, 1999, LXXVII-1255 p.
The nineteen texts in the volume range from 1872 to 1889 and as a whole they sum up the Author's more specifically pastoral interests and activities before the subsequent "foundational" biographical phase. In terms of theological-spiritual substance and structural articulation, the catechetical block (Come with me, Let's go to heaven, The foundation) presents a particularly significant reworking contribution. But the testimony of a constant readiness to teach the contents, reasons and consequences of the faith is also found in the "moral" texts that deal with pedagogy and social problems, with spiritual direction and liturgical animation, with universal and local history, with daily events and events memorable.
Volume IV - Writings for congregations
Luigi Guanella, Writings for the congregations, (Edited and unpublished works of Luigi Guanella, IV), edited by Bruno Capparoni, introduction by Piero Pellegrini, Rome, Nuove Frontiere, 1988, XXXI-1482 p.
The collection of thirty-three texts objectively documents the origin of the charism which still today animates the two congregations of the Servants of Charity and the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence. From 1886 onwards, the author has continuously reworked, with different methods and purposes, the spiritual and canonical directives to ensure the development and consolidation of the two religious families he founded. The gradual evolution of the various regulations, statutes, constitutions demonstrates the difficulty of the enterprise, faced with great personal tenacity and trust in the vocation received. The volume is also notable for the contribution it makes to the history of the Church between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, an era marked by the flourishing of “social” founders and saints.
Volume V
Don Guanella's Opera Omnia will conclude with the critical publication of the Guanellian Epistolary which is still being elaborated. The Epistolary is continuously enriched over time, with the ever-finding of new letters from Don Guanella.
Volume VI - Unpublished and posthumous writings
In this volume, 14 texts by don Guanella are published, which remained unpublished while he was alive. Here are contained texts of various kinds: historical, spiritual, biographical…. including the autobiographical texts "Le Vie della Provvidenza" and "Fragmenta vitae et dictorum" and the sketch of a biography of Sister Chiara Bosatta.
Don Pallotta writes in the introduction to the volume: "The peculiarity of this volume is that it deals with some of the most personal texts of his production as a writer... In them don Guanella expresses himself more fluently on events of which he is often a direct witness... From these pages show the living photograph of Don Guanella, his self-portrait.
Published and unpublished writings of Luigi Guanella: www.intratext.com/ixt/ITA0614