St. Gaspar Bertoni (1777-1853)

Welcome to our special program on the Year of Faith, THE FAITHFUL WITNESS, a series on the lives of Inspiring People and Witnesses of faith in the Catholic Church from around the world. These holy people lived their ordinary lives in extraordinary ways. They are examples of great holiness and virtue, and they invite us to follow their paths to holiness. Their unique stories inspire us to be rooted in our faith. God calls each one of us today to inspire our brothers and sisters and to be witnesses of our faith.
Today we shall listen to the heroic life of Saint Gaspar Bertoni, priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He was canonized on 1st November 1989, the Solemnity of All Saints, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.xxx
GASPAR BERTONI was born in Verona, in the Republic of Venice, on October 9, 1777, of Francis Bertoni and Brunora Ravelli of Sirmione. He was baptized the following day by his grand-uncle, Fr. James Bertoni, in the parish church of St. Paul, in the Campo Marzo section of Verona. On both sides of the family, the profession of "Notary" was exercised, and from an old legal document, it can be seen that the family was fairly well off. Even more outstanding, however, was the practice of the faith.
Following the death of his baby sister, young Gaspar remained the only child. He had the benefit of an excellent education both at home and at St. Sebastian's school, that was run the municipality after the suppression of the Jesuit Order, the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits, however, continued teaching and also in the direction of the Marian Congregation. Young Bertoni here came under the influence of Fr. Louis Fortis, who would in the future be the first Jesuit General after the reinstatement of the Company of Jesus.
From the grace of his first Holy Communion at the age 11, Gaspar Bertoni was called to a life of mystical union. His vocation to the priesthood matured, and at the age of 18, he entered the seminary. In frequenting the theological course as an extern student, he found in Fr. Nicholas Galvani, his professor of moral theology, an excellent spiritual director.
During his first year of theology in 1796, Gaspar witnessed the invasion of the French armies. This was the beginning of a 20-year period of great upheaval for his native city. Inspired by deep charity, he dedicated himself to the assistance of the sick and the wounded, as a member of a Gospel Fraternity for the Hospitals, that had just then been instituted by the Servant of God, Fr. Peter Leonardi.
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At his priestly ordination on 20th September 1800, at the dawn of a new century, Gaspar found himself in a world in need of much assistance for the resolution of the serious problems that disturbed it. His pastor assigned the youth of the parish to his pastoral care. He dedicated himself with all his energies and great organizational ability to the new mission.
Fr Gaspar established an Oratory in the form of a ‘Marian Cohort’, that had as its goal the Christian and social formation of the youth. All such organizations were suppressed by a decree from Napoleon in 1807, and Fr. Bertoni reserved the carrying out of his plans for better times.
Meanwhile, he took over the spiritual direction of a community founded then by St. Magdalena of Canossa at St. Joseph's Convent in May 1808). It was here that he met the Servant of God, Leopoldina Naudet. Fr. Gaspar guided her spiritually to the heights of the mysticism of holy abandonment and to the foundation of the Sisters of the Holy Family. He extended this aspect of his ministry to another Servant of God, Teodora Campostrini, of a noble family, both in the discernment of her vocation, as well as in the foundation of her Community, of the ‘Sorelle Minime’ or ‘little sisters’ of the Charity of the Sorrowful Mother.
By September 1810, he had already moved from his family home after the death of his mother, and was transferred from St. Paul's Parish, to St. Firmus Major. Here, the bishop also entrusted him with the spiritual direction of the seminarians in the diocesan seminary. A solid spiritual and theological formation of the young was always the clear objective of the frequent gatherings that he held in his own home. At this time, he began to organize this endeavor in a more orderly fashion. His overall idea was the renewal of the clergy based on an unconditional adherence to the Supreme Pontiff, Pius VII, at that time, Napoleon's prisoner. For Fr. Bertoni, the Pontiff, was always ‘the first and irremovable stone’ of the Church. The reform of the Church had to begin from the sanctuary itself, with the return of its ministers to the integral following of the Gospel. The diocesan seminary was going through a very bad crisis. However, in a short time it regained its proper form, and even assumed a monastic aspect as a contemporary witness stated.
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With the fall of Napoleon, the need for restoration was widely felt. Fr. Bertoni clearly understood that to gather the flock once again, it would be necessary to awaken them by the presentation of the fundamental truths of the faith through the preaching of missions to the people. On 20 December 1817, Pope Pius VII gave him a precise mandate, by conferring on him the faculty of ‘apostolic missionary’. While the suspicious government of Austria forbade this specific ministry, Fr. Bertoni dedicated himself to other preaching and catechetical instruction.
While becoming all things to all men to gain them for Christ, Fr. Bertoni cultivated a very intense interior life. From the reading of his Spiritual Diary, it is clear that he was also graced by mystical gifts. Among these, was the call to the foundation of a religious family.
On 4th November 1816, with two companions, Fr. Bertoni moved into a small house, adjacent to a suppressed Church, that bore the title of "the Sacred Stigmata of St. Francis’. From this title, the name of his community was eventually adapted. In this small church, he also worked to spread the devotion to the Passion and the wounds of Christ. In a very unostentatious manner, the new community opened a tuition-free school, offering this and other gratuitous services to the Church and society. The men lived together a common life of strict observance and penance. An intense life of contemplation was joined to a broad apostolate, including the Christian education of the youth, the formation of the clergy and missionary preaching, in perfect availability to the requests of the bishop.
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Right after an ecstasy that he experienced praying before a Crucifix on 30th May 1812, he suffered the first attack of a dangerous fever that brought him to the very threshold of death. Almost miraculously, he recovered but for the rest of his 41 years of life he remained in poor health, all this while giving a wonderful example of patience and heroic abandonment to God.
Even from his sick-bed, suffering indescribable discomfort, he became the "angel of counsel" for countless people who sought him out. Many of these people were gifted human beings, who were founding charitable works. They include Blessed Charles Steeb, the Servants of God, Fr. Nicholas Mazza and Fr. Anthony Provolo - and others from outside the city, who came to Verona to meet him.
An authentic image of Christ Crucified, with nearly 300 surgical procedures on his right leg that he endured, he could not suffer enough for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls. Once his nurse asked him if he needed anything - and among his last words were: "I need to suffer".
In a vision of vivid hope in the Risen Christ, bearing the signs of His Triumph, and supported by the Holy Spouses and Patrons, Mary and Joseph, he died a holy death, at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon, 12 June 1853.
His Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ, enriched by so many sufferings, gradually spread beyond Verona, to other cities in Italy, and then to the United States, Brazil, Chile, the Philippines and to mission territories: South Africa, the Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Thailand.By P.J. Joseph SJ
FRIDAY, 11 JANUARY 2013