The Opera Don Guanella commemorates the arrival of the first Servants of Charity in Argentina, a century ago.
Thank divine Providence and celebrate
the courageous work of these pioneers

by Bruno Capparoni

È A century has passed since the first foundation of the Servants of Charity in Latin America, a long enough time to look back and remember. Therefore, during this 2025 we will offer readers a The Holy Crusade some reminders on the Guanellian Works in that continent, so as not to forget what happened and what was done with the help of God and men.

A few years before 1925, Don Guanella had sent the first missionary expedition of nuns to the United States and had written to them: «Setting foot in America to found a religious house may seem difficult for many leaders. But, once introduced, it is less difficult to be able to propagate» (Come with me for the American missionary nuns, 1913, Scritti IV, p. 790). Perhaps it was on the basis of this trust of the founder that the Guanellians were induced to cross the ocean and begin their first work in Argentina.

For the Congregation of the Servants of Charity, a new phase in their history had just begun. On February 28, 1924, the IV General Chapter had elected Don Leonardo Mazzucchi (1883-1964) as superior; in the meantime, the consequences of the First World War had been overcome and the number of members of the young congregation was growing. It was in this context that the decision to start a presence in South America matured.

The choice fell on the city of Tandil, 360 kilometers south of the Argentine capital. It was a lively and industrious center that hosted a colony of Italian emigrants from Pianello del Lario (where Don Guanella had been parish priest between 1881 and 1889), among whom were two brothers of the co-founder of the Guanellian nuns, Mother Marcellina Bosatta (1847-1934). A friend of the Guanellian Work, Carlo Bruni, the Italian vice-consul, was also living there; he put the parish priest of Tandil, a Piedmontese by the name of Giulio Maria Chienno, insistently asked Don Mazzucchi for some religious to lead an educational-welfare work, theAsylum of the varones [= masculine] Martín Rodríguez.

The first Guanellians to be sent were two priests Francesco Rovida (1885-1949) and Umberto De Angeli (1901-1969), with the lay brother Silvestro Lombarda (1884-1957). They arrived in Tandil on November 21, 1925 and began their activity at theAsylum the 2 January 1926.

From the beginning, serious difficulties arose in the relationship with the parish priest Giulio Chienno, which can be summed up in a single problem: the lack of autonomy of the Guanellian community, hindered in its educational work. To resolve the difficulties, Don Mazzucchi sent from Rome the director of the Pious Union of the Transit of Saint Joseph, Don Walter Disler (1890-1938); having arrived in Tandil on 29 September 1926, he could only take note of an unsolvable situation. It was therefore inevitable to decide that the three Guanellians should leave theAsylum of the varones and moved to Buenos Aires, where they arrived on September 29, 1927. The Guanellian Work in Tandil had lasted just over a year and a half.

The intervention of the auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires, Fortunato Devoto (1872-1941), was providential in favoring the new settlement. In the urgency of
find a new home in the Argentine capital, the Guanellians accepted the bishop's invitation to open a house on the land donated by Mrs. Urbana Sánches de Santojanni on Avenida Emilio Castro. The San José Institute for the elementary and agricultural education of poor children was born, which began its activity on January 1, 1929.

In the meantime, reinforcements had arrived from Italy. On 24 October 1928, the priest Santino Busnelli (1889-1961) arrived, accompanied by two theology students Edoardo Maggioni (1888-1954) and Evaristo Santinelli (1899-1974), who received priestly ordination from Bishop Fortunato Devoto on 29 May 1930.

With these new recruits, the Guanellian Work in Buenos Aires experienced a comforting development, being located in a neighborhood in need of spiritual assistance; thus, the pastoral service was started in a chapel dedicated to the Transit of Saint Joseph, erected as a parish on October 7, 1930.

Meanwhile, in the town of Santa Lucía, 170 kilometers north of the capital, the Irish O'Farrell family made a generous donation that allowed the construction of an institute in memory of their daughter Margherita. Father Umberto De Angeli and Brother Silvestro Lombarda arrived there, starting their mission on May 1, 1929; the O'Farrells also added a church, whose construction was completed in 1931.

In 1933 the Servants of Charity purchased land in Tapiales, a suburb of Buenos Aires, to build a seminary. Some young people had been attracted by the example of the Guanellians and joined the religious community in South America; the first were Giancarlo Rossinelli (1919-1968) and Salvatore Guida (1919-2009) who completed their formation in Italy and were ordained after the Second World War.

To complete the chronicle of these early years, it is worth remembering the two prolonged visits of the superior general Leonardo Mazzucchi, the first between October 1933 and March 1934 and the second in the same year, from September to November; they testify to the assiduous interest of Don Mazzucchi in favoring the consolidation of the Argentine works.

In the meantime, on 5 May 1931, the priest Giuseppe Magnani (1902-1960) arrived in Buenos Aires from Italy. Between 1934 and 1948, he would develop the Guanellian presence in Buenos Aires with the construction of the large church dedicated to Saint Joseph, where the first South American headquarters of the Pious Union of the Transit was established.