A few months ago we began the jubilee year for the hundredth anniversary of the passage into heaven of our holy Founder, Don Luigi Guanella. In this circumstance it is right to stop, consult the memories and listen again with the sensitivity of Don Guanella to the groans of today's poor. 

From the consultation of the "papers" in our possession, the death of Don Luigi is immediately placed under the sign of the greatness of the man and the deceased priest.

His courageous, serene life is celebrated, despite indications to the contrary. We admire an existence totally regulated by the rhythms proposed by God. We measure the interior dimension of a priest who has been able to reflect and observe himself since his youth, but who has also dedicated attention and love to the time in which he lived and to the people who the social system transformed human "waste", opening up without prejudice towards that modernity that could benefit them to the point of redeeming them.

However, the ideal commentary on his loss comes from his brothers and sisters, especially from his immediate successors.

For Don Mazzucchi, death revealed at least two things: it brought out, in an almost palpable form, the degree of esteem and affection that people had for Don Luigi and at the same time it also put the seal on his identity. He had passed away as “the Man of love”.

«It was then understood how much love we had for Don Luigi - the Man of Love, because a sad veil of profound sadness seemed to spread over the city (Como) and the disastrous event was the subject of a general mourning of lament and of tears" (La Divina Provvidenza, 11 (1915) 189).

The Servants of Charity and the Daughters of Santa Maria della Provvidenza found it difficult to detach themselves from that coffin. It seemed they did not want to deprive themselves of the last, eloquent messages or recommendations that their father and teacher could have conveyed to them with the silent language of death.

«They passed, silent with pain, in front of the dear and blessed body which spoke, even so, with touching eloquence of charity; they took the time to fix his features in order to print them, with the memory of the teachings and virtues of which he had been such a wise and good master, in their own soul; they kissed those holy hands again, that angelic forehead, leaving their hearts united with it as they separated from it. And they said a generous fiat." That is, they acknowledged that the baton had passed into their hands and that, from that moment on, it was up to them to continue the great adventure of charity that Don Luigi had begun, without ever taking their eyes off his evangelical vision, his style, his its practicality and at the same time its modernity.

Even for Don Bacciarini the death of the Founder turned into a double exaltation. The fame of his sanctity spread widely and "even the name of the Servants of Charity emerged from the shadows into the light of midday" (Letter to the Servants of Charity, 27 November 1915). Furthermore, according to Don Bacciarini, Don Guanella's death also had the extraordinary effect of making his continued presence perceived in a very particular way, as if he were still alive and active in the homes, among the guests, among the religious. Don Bacciarini noticed it exactly one year after the passing of Don Luigi and as his successor, who had therefore made a careful check of the situation.

«A year has passed... yet the whole humble life of "Providence" (of the House of Como, for whose benefactors the writing was intended) still took place around Him... His name is always on the lips of all of us, as in the days of His blessed life and more. Don Luigi is the soul of the conversation, as is the subject of the meditation... In every event, the first thought is always of Him... (as also) in needs and anxieties... Truly: His disappearance is more apparent than real" (La Divina Providence, 10-11 (1916) 105-106; cf. Letter to the Servants of Charity, 26 October 1916).

The anthology of invocations that Don Bacciarini addresses to the Founder in this period, thinking or writing about him, certainly arises from this tangible familiarity and closeness. He calls him and invokes:

«Holy superior, man of God, our sweet guide, the dear common father, beloved father, holy founder, our most beloved father, benefactor and unforgettable father, the sweet friend of the holy altar, dear and holy our father». «May our thoughts rise to him every day to say to him: 'O father, let our right hand dry up, let our tongue stick to the palate, let our heart stop beating before we distance ourselves from your spirit, before breaking the structure of your work, before saddening your heart with a less worthy life" (Letter to the Servants of Charity, 27 November 1915; cf. Ps 137, 5s).

Finally, one cannot miss the wealth of exhortations that Don Bacciarini addresses to his brothers whenever he remembers their passing:

“May the continued and unfailing presence of the Father among his children always comfort you. Turn to Him in your sorrows, speak to Him about your worries, raise your gaze to Him in every need, in every uncertainty, in every distress: and Don Luigi will always be generous with his comfort and help in a fatherly way. With the dear image of Don Luigi always before our eyes, we continue to promote the works that he left us as a precious legacy and we grow more every day in his spirit, treasuring his examples of poverty, humility, charity, sacrifice, of tireless prayer" (Letter to the Servants of Charity, 22 October 1916).

Today, one hundred years later, none of these recommendations have aged. Allow me to reiterate them, adding one that I consider the key to keeping us alive in the wake of the Founder. 

Let's return to merciful charity, with the strategies he wanted. 

The first: coming out of oneself, seeking the good of others, opening up, giving of oneself, welcoming, entering into dialogue and communion with everyone. The second: choosing the suburbs.

Upon closer inspection, even before Pope Francis reminded us, these dimensions were already in the birth certificate of the Congregation. We exist for the gift of our entire selves in the mission, precisely for charity. Forcing? This is how a historian who has been studying our documents for some time reads our origins:

«Don Guanella has the method of the suburbs. He keeps his works away from the central squares and not only because he lacks means. His houses are located in small towns, away from major roads, in places ignored by most. And in larger cities, from Como to Milan, they are on the edge of the urban fabric, in the suburbs or even beyond, as happens in Rome for the agricultural colony of Monte Mario. In being peripheral, Don Guanella made a choice of Christian universality. Those who are at the center are, in the big world, a small minority. The most of the world is given by the innumerable suburbs, by the many Galileees of the people, by what the psalms call the extreme borders, the distant islands, the distant seas, the thresholds of the East and the West. It is here that God reveals himself and gives hope, not among those who enjoy being at the centre" (Roberto Morozzo Della Rocca, Don Guanella citizen of the world. Rome-Montecitorio, 12 September 2011).