by Alejandro Dieguez

Don Aurelio Bacciarini in Arzo 

A parish priest who is "all nerves and all heart". This is how Don Aurelio was remembered by those who had the opportunity to know him in the parish of Santi Nazzaro e Celso in Arzo, a mid-mountain village of around 800 souls, near the village of Mendrisio and the Italian-Swiss border of Como-Chiasso.

He arrived there on Friday 5 November 1897, late in the evening, without any reception from the population, who strongly resented the transfer of the previous parish priest. The parish of Arzo was under popular patronage and in that transfer the parishioners saw their right of election violated.

Upon entering the rectory, Don Aurelio found the house still completely bare but the fireplace lit: the only sign of welcome and festive part of the day.

However, the coldness was to last very little. The following Sunday, the new parish priest's first sermon was a revelation. Upon hearing him, everyone dropped their resistance and hostility and, after three months, the parish assembly unanimously elected him as their parish priest.

In a short time Don Aurelio completed the transformation of that small village.

His private life was very poor. If he had anything he gave everything to the poor. The classic episode of the lunch pot found empty of its contents because it was secretly given to the needy, recalled as testimony to the generous charity of many saints, also sees Don Aurelio as the protagonist... to the detriment of the elderly maid who was then unable to understand what had happened.

But as well as for the living, the future parish priest of S. Giuseppe al Trionfale also gave shining examples of charity for the dying, leaving the parishioners edified, as when he delayed Sunday Mass to stay at the bedside of a dying man and support with the strength of his sacraments his last climb towards the eternal Summit.

He was very active in his parish life. He worked hard - the witnesses say - "with a tension and attention that was undoubtedly superior to his physical strength" and this is why he was called "a parish priest who was all nerves and all heart".

He provided for the construction of oratories, halls, homes and beds to remove children from the streets, from promiscuity and from ignorance, especially religious ignorance. As will happen in S. Giuseppe al Trionfale, he founded Catholic associations for every class of people, to train convinced Christians, to educate them to win human respect and raise up apostles even among the laity. He favored and spread the Catholic press to counteract the bad press and prevent its sad effects.

To prevent young people from being forced to leave the town in search of work, with the support of Don Luigi Guanella, his future religious superior, he attempted to create a women's workshop in Arzo.

But his activity and fame extended beyond the boundaries of the parish. In fact, he became like the spiritual father of all the committed Catholic laity of Mendrisiotto. He was called for parties or meetings of a certain importance because he had the gift of attracting crowds with his word, including young people and workers. On the occasion of the regional celebrations of the Ticino Catholic Action he often made his vibrant speeches heard, sometimes arousing discomfort on the part of the anti-clerical press.

After six years of tireless apostolate, Don Aurelio had to leave Arzo in 1903, when his bishop appointed him spiritual director of the secondary school seminary of Pollegio. On September 25 of that year, celebrating the last mass in the parish for his people, he addressed his greetings to the faithful present, accompanied by his tears and those of the faithful themselves. With a public subscription he was offered the memory of a Crucifix. Some of his friends wanted to offer him a farewell lunch a few days before; he took them to Capolago and paid for it.

When it was time to leave, a parishioner offered to accompany him to the Mendrisio station and said to him: "Mr. Curate, if you need anything, speak." Don Aurelio replied: «Here is the providence, I don't have a cent for the trip!».

Poor had arrived, poor was leaving.