A component of the first youth group affianc & ograve; Don Luigi reminds all'Aravecchia….

I met Don Luigi in 1971/72, I was the second high school. Someone told me that the church c & rsquo; was a slide show of this new assistant pastor who had just returned from leper colony of Brazil. Since we were young, a powder’ curious, with the desire to see something new, we went. Besides the parish had just been formed and then c & rsquo; was a lot of curiosity & agrave;. The projection, if I remember correctly, & Egrave; went on pi & ugrave; one evening because & eacute; we saw lots of slides. I remember this skinny little priest, slender, young, with short hair, curly beard and without, who spoke to the Brazilian Modena mixed with a few words of Italian, had mixed it all together. Those evenings were the magnet that attracted a lot of guys who have started attending his house and commit themselves to the poor. All & rsquo; beginning you do not believe even that, because you do & eacute; do you like, you want to be alternative. Then it takes your hand and you realize that in fact it is worth: I even now when I think that only a few Persian or some glass in the leper colony there l & rsquo;'ve put anch & rsquo; I, I am very satisfied because & eacute; I have not helped by giving money, but giving of time and effort. Since then we have begun to find: at & rsquo; beginning in his home that was composed of a small room with a single bed, that & egrave; then the bed he held until the end, a table and four chairs. I remember some meetings in that room twelve feet square with people sitting on the floor, others sitting on the table, other on the bed. He kept all his things under the bed. Then they decided to give him two more rooms, then butt & ograve; gi & ugrave; a wall and ograve & amp; the room d & rsquo; entry which became the salon while the next room became his bedroom. Instead of keeping things under the bed had been put in front of the shelves with tents and l & igrave; he kept his linen. Under the bed & ograve; continued to keep the things that, making the collection of paper, rags and iron, he could serve. He had already & agrave; Since then, the craze of the person who collects and who like old things and then the things that could be pi & ugrave; interesting because he held & eacute; could serve him or to furnish or to work. I remember one time when I had brought from somewhere in the car, I did stop along the way because & eacute; had seen a piece of cardboard on the floor. Perch & eacute; then it was sold and earned some money. Our main job was to collect paper, tatters, iron, then go sell them and send the proceeds to the leprosarium. We we were kids every night, We had a big calendar on which were marked all appointments: we had every night and engaged one evening a week was dedicated to the Mass. He said Mass at the table and used an old blue and white porcelain cup and a tablecloth that had been hand-embroidered by a woman of the leprosarium that had not pi & ugrave; hands, had only a stump, yet she sticks with that stump and could embroider. Then we decided that this message that he brought us was to be known by others, We then put on a show, we called the & ldquo; Recital: readings for the voiceless & rdquo;, and c & rsquo; slides were, messages of hope, songs. I think I've turned all the surrounding countries because & eacute; this thing & egrave; been going on for a long time and don Luigi was always with us because & eacute; always used to say a few words. So much for the relationship with the boys. For I & ograve; I remember that when he & egrave; arrived at & rsquo; Aravecchia, the so-called barracks where he had the room was practically ruined house, very bad to see even all & rsquo; external, had a part, which then was the first to be demolished, to l & rsquo; actual bowling, where c & rsquo; was the old mill. One of the first things he wanted to do when he had a little’ of people who assecondavano, was to pave the courtyard of the barracks and whitewash the windows so that the house had a different look. This is because & eacute; he kept us that & rsquo; Aravecchia was not considered a ghetto, why & eacute; cos & igrave; was then considered, a place where they lived poor and criminals. Pi & ugrave; later it occurred to him to create a small community & agrave; where to keep the boys that they need a helping hand to face life again. This community & agrave; occupied a small part of the barracks. Thus was born this small nucleus that then and & ograve; as brewing and also grew because & eacute; with the law Dr. asylums were closed and Don Luigi found himself having to accommodate a group of people who, outputs from the asylum, did not know where to go: the Mariuccia, the Domenico, Bianchi, the & ldquo; & rdquo teacher, and the & ldquo; cat & rdquo;. They had their own room and a certain independence because & eacute; the barracks was divided into several apartments even though they were all together for meals and every night for the meeting because & eacute; Don Luigi gathered them and spoke to them. Pure & ugrave; Adventure, with l & rsquo; arrival of other guys, you & egrave; necessitated a structure & pi ugrave; great. He had perci & ograve; did do a project for the renovation of barracks, which was composed of two courtyards and a central arm which allowed the passage by a courtyard & Outdoors; another. In the central arm he wanted to make the church, from one part of the yard wanted to make mini-apartments for the elderly and from & rsquo; another part of the house community & agrave;.

The municipality had given the land for the construction of the church and he had proposed the change, the barracks renovation in exchange for land. In the end it all came to nothing because egrave &; the barracks was considered the ghetto of the underprivileged and for this reason had to be destroyed. From l & igrave; Don Luigi starts & ograve; think about the construction of the new house.

I remember that & rsquo; Archbishop, Bishop. Canteen, was often at & rsquo; Aravecchia, in particular, it was for the & rsquo; Epiphany and Don Luigi was preparing to eat. L & rsquo; year in which c & rsquo; was l & rsquo; austeriti, we had no money for a taxi and then the Geg & egrave; had gone to take the bishop with the tandem. Mensa had willingly accepted the return and also I remember l & rsquo; archbishop behind the saddle pedaling at a good pace, with his back a little’ inclined as to give more & ugrave; pushing the pedals, the skullcap on his head and the robe billowing. The bishop had fully understood what was the spirit of & rsquo; Aravecchia and stopped again with all the guys to chat.

Don Luigi also loved to take his kids on vacation. The first holiday that has been in Taiz & egrave; with an old Renault van that had the side doors that flowed. L & rsquo; had loaded potato and nutella. On the way back the van l & rsquo; had nicknamed & ldquo; providence” why & eacute; it was broken and they did the last one hundred kilometers in the second. Arrived at & rsquo; Aravecchia had kissed the ground and said, Father Louis: & Ldquo; why we must always rely on Providence & eacute; she never abandons us & rdquo;. Then he bought another van and also what he used it for the holidays. The first holiday that I did with him & egrave; been Policoro, in Basilicata. All & rsquo; inside the van we loaded a real pantry, I mean a unit in which c & rsquo; had all of our food. Only that we had arrived at Policoro parked in a beautiful grove of eucalyptus trees but the evening was full of mosquitoes, then the next night we found shelter in the city & agrave; in an old abandoned cinema. Then we went for ten years in Sardinia. Don Luigi at the sight of & rsquo; turned water, ran on the beach and swam. He liked to bathe in the early morning & ldquo, when no one had yet made the pip & igrave; in & rdquo;! And in the evening we went to a bar and he was playing billiards. Once he discovered that in the sea of ​​Sardinia c & rsquo; were shards of amphorae carried by the current: she wanted us to recover because tuffassimo & eacute; he was very fond of old things. Had given him the capitals that we had brought home, maybe they are the ones who are now in the church.

Then we went to Rome several times by coach. I remember a very special trip to Greece: with backpacks we went to Brindisi train & then by the igrave; we took a boat, We all put our sleeping bags on the deck and we were l & igrave;. We made 24 hours by boat. Then he found a hotel near the & rsquo; Athens airport, & Egrave; true that you spared some’ for & ograve; we had jets that passed overhead!

I remember that even when c & rsquo; was gi & agrave; the new house we were organizing more trips on Sunday and he was, maybe we'd take him to see his mother or you went for a walk and this was very important. Then there was always for the holidays and New Years, how many times we started l & rsquo; New Year with an Our Father and a Mass and then we ate.

Don Luigi gave a & rsquo; imprint on my life, has shown me a path of rectitude and honesty & agrave;. I always thank him why & eacute; I had a beautiful youth & ugrave;, I believe I have always been a girl very happy and carefree, I & egrave; loved everything about it and if I could go back I would do what I did. Then I met my husband he, There he married, baptized my daughter, gave l & rsquo; extreme unction to my husband, was with me, we cried together that night beside the bed. After that time Don Luigi for me & egrave; become even more & ugrave; important and now I think that if he does not c & rsquo; & egrave; pi & ugrave; does not seem true. I remember him with Ross when he was very small and was not well, he took her in his arms, if loaded on your stomach with legs apart and made her walk up and down & ugrave; for that room because & eacute; Rossana said that when he was in the arms of Don Luigi stomach ache passed the. And he patient, patient, always patient with the sick, with the needy and the people who were leaving.

He left a void incredible.

LIBORIA