Father Lorenzo

Lorenzo Guanella was born on 2 April 1800, the eldest among four brothers; he had grown up in the footsteps of a hard-working father and imbued with an unusual spirit of faith, as can be seen from the few letters that have come down to us from his correspondence with his son Tomaso junior. Lorenzo lived in his father's house for a long time even after he married, until, advised by his father, he built his own house in Fraciscio in 1835, the house that all Don Guanella's friends know.
On 21 January 1824 he married Maria Antonietta Bianchi, 6 years his junior, born in Samolaco, but who lived in the hamlet of Motta, halfway between Fraciscio and Madesimo.
Pa' Lorenzo held public offices in the Municipality of Campodolcino for 24 years, as first deputy and then as mayor.
As the family grew, the need to expand the roots of subsistence arose. Pa' Lorenzo managed to purchase some small fields for grazing in the Gualdera plain. He worked the fields he owned and also dedicated himself to some extent to the then very flourishing trade in the Val San Giacomo, especially since the new Spluga road had opened in 1823. In the winter months he went as far as the Bergamo area to work as a distiller of brandy. In this art he was sought after for his skill.
Undisputed head of the family, Pa' Lorenzo is the axis of the wheel, the foundation which, while instilling strength, holds the whole construction together. Unity is embodied in him. The house is called "Pa' Lorenzo's house". His authority is sure and firm, from it emanates educational strength which for a long time manages to shape in depth giving a sense of security and trust. With a father like that behind you there is no danger of getting lost!
Moral straightness then makes its path linear. Pa' Lorenzo is surrounded by respect and almost veneration. His figure stands out before the eyes of his children as a man, yes, with a strong character, who at times could even seem gruff, but nevertheless great was the esteem towards him for the intelligence full of wisdom in his words, for the promptness and the good humor of his jokes, for which he was expected in men's circles after Mass or Vespers. And just as it appeared credible in his words, it appeared equally imitable in his behavior. An illustrious fellow villager, who became archbishop of Cosenza, testified in his testimony at the beatification process of Don Luigi: «I met the father of the Servant of God, who was called Lorenzo, a man of heartfelt religion, of great authority and rectitude, highly esteemed in the town , rather authoritarian in his views. Even in his family there was a reverential fear towards him and even more." Another witness stated: "The father was a bit rustic in character, but had a profound religious life."
But it is also good to hear from those who lived together and received life education, Don Luigi himself.
The description he left in his autobiographical memoirs is truly delightful. He begins by stating that: «The inhabitants of 50 years ago lived in great simplicity and in the practice of the Holy Mass mostly daily, of the Holy Sacraments very frequent, of the Rosary in the evening in every family».
Against this background he presents his father.
«The head of the house, Guanella Lorenzo di Tomaso, is a type of mountain man who always dresses in Spanish style even when the others are expected to follow new fashions; of a healthy and flashy complexion (this "flashy" is interesting, a sign that he was of a beautiful colour, with the imprints of the sun and the wind well printed on his colored skin), of a firm and unconquered character like the rocks of the Calcagnolo that surrounds him. For about 24 years he was the first deputy mayor of the municipality of Campodolcino. Lorenzo Guanella had such a vision that there was no one better than him. He was always the last to speak and the last word was his - even compared to district or provincial authorities - because he knew he was sure and right in his views and proposals. Needless to say, in his family of twelve children he was like a priest and a king, because he read, so to speak, in everyone's hearts and wanted them to grow in virtue, obedience and work."
A picture of the father, undoubtedly full of admiration, described with sobriety and love: a man of vigor, to whom the authority of mayor gave further weight to his role as "boss" in the family.
This personality, so rich, indeed superabundant in its composition of qualities and characters, could be compared to a precious pearl with multiple reflections, variegated, with clearly identifiable streaks, and all fused together in a fundamental property - "strength" - which, said of stone, it should be called "compact hardness", a reason for resistance and solidity in its beauty.
Thus the sense of responsibility touches his conscience. He feels like the leader and guide of the large family. Don Guanella himself gave this direction of very fine wisdom, in which there are traces of what he saw in Pa'Lorenzo: «To the innocent escapades of your children, turn a blind eye and half the other too. But shake yourselves then as you see their innocence in danger: in the terrible situation call for help all the saints in Heaven, all the righteous on earth."
Pa' Lorenzo's trouble was that in those "terrible situations" he too became terrible, but the rosary in the evening brought about calm.
Only one thing made his child's soul shine: faith. As for this, it was clear, simple, total. He put his soul into his faith. And he lived it.
Yet another note: self-sacrifice. The work, the effort, the sweat! The frequency and way with which the Founder describes the father's efforts in his passionate dedication to his children's possessions is impressive, evidently evoking familiar scenes from his experience as a child when he saw Pa' Lorenzo, who left for distant places or went to the fields of first morning with the work tools on his shoulders and he labored all day and did not spare himself until the evening, when he returned home, bathed in sweat and loaded with the large basket full of wood and hay...
«You see a father who suffers hunger and thirst, sweats and is in affliction, and yet when he looks at his little son he calms down». «Imagine that from a labor camp several children come dripping with sweat. Imagine that after a long journey the beloved parent emerges from the other, still weak from the sweat of blood from so many efforts incurred for the sake of his children. When these embrace their father, and the parent his beloved young ones, I believe that God the Father... stops his complacent gaze on them and says to all of Heaven: This is how they love each other on earth itself; this is how the father and his children love each other."

Mother Mary

With a totally different timbre, mother Maria also revealed an extraordinary richness of soul.
She came from Motta when she went down to Fraciscio, or rather, to Gualdera in the Guanella-Carafa house in January 1824. She was born in Samolaco, on the piano, on 28 December 1806 to Lorenzo Bianchi and Levi Maria. They called them the «White Godènz».
This is how Don Pietro Tognini describes her in his unpublished papers: «Maria Bianchi was a true treasure of a Christian mother, diligent, prudent, an active and prudent woman in family management. She was a sweet soul and very gentle in her ways, she appropriately tempered the rigidity of her husband, who obtained with the strength of her authority what she was able to obtain with the strength of her love."
Mother Maria was the heart of the family. The best qualities of a mother were expressed in her in a beautiful synthesis: a very tender heart, fidelity to the Word of God which is like a second motherhood which ennobles and completes the simply human one, wisdom in always inventing new balances for the large and varied family so "prophetic", if he was capable of expressing two saints.
Nice things were said about mother Maria, both inside and outside the Guanella house. The witnesses are unanimous in singing the highest praise of this humble woman.
«The mother particularly stood out for her piety», a statement made before the judges by Canon Gian Battista Trussoni during the Beatification processes of the Founder.
The two Levi cousins, both neighbors of the Guanella family, therefore knew her well through daily contact and say this about her: «Her mother: a holy woman even just to look at her». «Don Luigi, Lucia Levi notes with beautiful sensitivity, was good towards her parents and to all of her: her mother was especially praised for him, as the one who looked forward to you most». And fellow villager Curti Rocco: «Both of good conduct, but especially her mother, much admired for her patience and other good qualities».
Then there is the most conscious testimony, that of the Founder, who refers to what he said about his father.
«The weight of Father Lorenzo's authority over his children, providentially, was counterbalanced by their mother, Maria Bianchi, a woman of energy and sweetness of manner, so that in the family she was a true treasure of Providence. She raised twelve children and yet she was always first in charge of the house and the work in the countryside."
In one of those privileged moments of particular confidence, Don Luigi, now an adult and founder, remembered his parents as «a sweet and affectionate memory - attests Don Martino Cugnasca -, as could well be deduced from the way and from the emotion that sometimes reached up to the tears".
He possessed and offered ardent, concrete faith, immersed in everyday life; without a doubt it was faith that constituted the interpretation, the "reading" of existence. See how Don Guanella describes the tragedy of Tartano, when the flood suddenly broke out, dragging a mountainside with houses and victims into its vortices. The last words of the mother who sees her daughters die are: «Goodbye! Goodbye! See you again in heaven." I seem to see mother Maria's faith reflected in it: the rhythm of her life was looked at with these eyes.
His tenderness is also constantly witnessed, so the educational action took on the imprint of affection, of interiority. The ability to love developed. The faculties of the heart were solicited by Mama Maria with her preference for following the paths of sweetness and, above all, with the pedagogy of example. She preceded, as the shepherdess precedes the flock, careful to carefully guide and recall the sheep that tend to stray for a moment.
The patient sweetness, illuminated by the faith so passionately professed by her, ended up flooding even Pa Lorenzo's position with tenderness. A special grace of integration must have occurred in Luigino's conscience: the Spirit of the Lord must have led him to look at the educational work of his parents as distributed in combined roles, some falling within the competence of the father, others falling within the competence of the mother; both, however, were "great patriarchs in the sight of God", sharing in the paternity of God: "Your first honor, oh parents, begins from the moment the Lord has elected you to this state; it begins from eternity, because from eternal centuries the Lord thought about creating you... Just as the Lord is the universal father, because he created everything in heaven and on earth and rules and governs; thus you in a certain way participate in this divine paternity."

(from The times and life of Don Guanella. Biographical research, Historical Essays 2, Nuove Frontiere Editrice, Rome 1990, page 46ff).