Mazzolari
by Gianni Gennari
A farmer by birth, he always remained physically linked to the countryside with his Lower Po Valley. Pope John, two months before he died, greeted him like this: "Here is the trumpet of the Holy Spirit in the land of Mantua!" Primo Mazzolari was born in 1890 in Boschetto di Cremona. At 22 he was a priest, assistant parish priest and professor of literature, and for some time, at various times, also a missionary among the Italians who emigrated to Switzerland.
The war arrives, which Benedict , and also faith. At the end of the war he wants to go back to being a parish priest, a full-time priest, among the people. In the field he discovers the poor, and also those far from God and the Church... By a special gift he has the fiery word that draws people along. And here he is, then, in the mid-20s, fiercely anti-fascist, claiming for himself as a priest, and for his boys, for his people to whom he speaks every day, and not just on Sunday, every freedom of criticism, scaring away clericals and bigots, bourgeois and hierarchs, in shirts or black cassocks... On 11 February 1929 the Concordat arrives, but he - among other things in illustrious company, it will be enough to remember that the young Montini writes that "those who think" have many doubts on the matter - does not he is happy about it, and says so openly. it was the beginning of difficult years: on 5 August 1931 he was shot near his rectory, grazing his head. Warned several times, he never let himself be intimidated. In 1932 the bishop promoted him archpriest of Bozzolo, on the banks of the Po. During the day he was among the people, at night he prayed or wrote: 28 books while alive, 5 published posthumously, plus two diaries, 4 volumes of letters and 3 of speeches .
On Sundays the sermon was enchanting: his people remember an entire month of May all about Pinocchio, sensational: against all liars, of the regime and of the sacristy, of the party and of propaganda... In March 1934 he published "The most beautiful adventure", reflection on the parable of the Prodigal Son, in which the distant and reckless appear "close", and the self-styled righteous and proud discover themselves "far" from God! It wasn't Pope Francis' time! An uproar, with a complaint to the Holy Office and condemnation of the book. He obeys, but continues writing. In 1937, for one of his articles on "Italian Catholics and communism", the regime, through the prefect, seized the diocesan weekly, "La Vita Cattolica". In 1941 his “Time to Believe”, still in the printing press, was seized by Minculpop, the Ministry of Popular Culture. For a speech on the fallen in war, respectful towards the fallen, but harsh towards those who sent them to fall, they take him to court. Even with men of the Church relationships are difficult. To defend himself, he writes a pamphlet, "I love the Pope too", which raises a hornet's nest among priests and various bigots, and also alarms the Vatican.
In 1943 one of his pamphlets, “On faith”, and the book “Commitment with Christ” met with the approval of the Holy Office: “deserving of censorship, if not in substance, at least in form…” Italy is at war, he he actively participates in the Resistance, and writes: "Let's begin to build the bridges for a Christian recovery." In 1944 they arrested him, released him, rearrested him and then he escaped on 31 July, remaining in hiding with the partisans until the end of the war. Meanwhile he continues to write, and founds a newspaper, "Adesso", which has in mind the moral reconstruction of Italy. Italy changes, and in 1949 he proposes "the Christian revolution", and this annoys priests, Christian Democrats and communists. He is strongly committed to peace, against every war, he dialogues with everyone, demanding of himself and of others. He also clashes with the reds, who wanted exclusivity, and were looking for useful idiot allies who wouldn't criticize.
It's a time of serious conflict between East and West, the Iron Curtain, the atomic threat, and he becomes a pacifist, writing among other things a memorable pamphlet, “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, from 1955, which annoys everyone. The Holy Office will take it back from him in February 1958. He dialogues and testifies, remaining faithful every day to his peasant people of Bozzolo, always on his altar every Sunday and always on his creaking country pulpit, he defends and criticizes, he stands beside the poor, but he cannot tolerate those who exploit them, not even the comrades who looked towards the USSR... With them he talks about peace, against war, even against that war with which for internal use, in our country, someone said they were defending peace. The crisis of the USSR and international communism: Budapest '47/'48, Berlin '53, Budapest '56 again...He insists on all aspects, and the clashes weakened those who appreciated and defended him, thus also encouraging misunderstandings from all sides parts. Here then came the ecclesiastical convictions and punishments: 1954 and 1956. With some first hints, fortunately, of consolation: in 1957 Archbishop Montini called him to Milan, to preach the Mission to the People: a triumph, of people, but also a scandal among right-thinking people.
In the autumn of 1958 Pius XII died and Roncalli arrived. They knew each other, also and above all through a beautiful friendship with Don Loris Capovilla, and Roncalli loved him. Here's the news: the Pope wants to see him, and after various attempts, hindered by those, even in the Vatican, who wanted to prevent the meeting, he arrives on 24 February 1959: the Pope embraces him, in the Vatican, the greeting that is worth repeating: “Here is the trumpet of the Holy Spirit in the land of Mantua!” A huge consolation. After so many storms, calm. But Don Primo had now given everything: to God, to the Church, to men. On Sunday 5 April 1959 he did not finish his sermon, suffering a stroke while speaking to his people about Bozzolo. Eight days of silent agony. The following Sunday he died, April 12, 1959. He had said a few days earlier: “Let me tell you, let me tell you, if there is one satisfaction that I ask of the Lord, it is this: that when I close my eyes I can say: my children are walking Well". In his will he wrote: “under the gaze of the Madonna, I prepare for supreme detachment… I own nothing.
The stuff didn't appeal to me, much less busy. I have no savings, except for the little that may or may not be enough for the funeral expenses, which I want to be very simple... I have nothing, and I am happy to have nothing to give you... I close my day as I believe I have lived it, in full communion of faith and obedience to the Church... I know I loved and served her with fidelity and complete selflessness." Don Mazzolari: a great man, modest and serene, a great priest, not at all puffed up with himself. In short, a saint, with his feet on the ground, his head in the sky, and his heart eaten by everyone. Current, Don Primo? Time of "Mercy", and of "going out" towards the poor and the distant. For these he was always "outgoing", and "with the smell of sheep". For Mercy it will be enough to remember his famous homily on Good Friday: Let us listen again to his voice, cracked by tears, saying: "Our Brother Judas": a time of conversion for everyone...