In the footsteps of
Saint John Baptist Scalabrini

John Baptist Scalabrini

Fino Mornasco July 8, 1839
Piacenza June 1, 1905
Rector of the Minor Seminary of Sant'Abbondio in Como
Parish priest of San Bartolomeo in Como
Bishop of Piacenza
Apostle of the Catechism
Father of migrants
Founder of the Missionaries of St. Charles - Scalabrinians
and of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo - Scalabrinians
Inspirer of the Scalabrinian Secular Missionaries
Proclaimed blessed by Pope John Paul II on Nov. 9, 1997
Canonized by Pope Francis on Oct. 9, 2022

Fino Mornasco

Birthplace

Our itinerary in the footsteps of Saint John Baptist Scalabrini in the Larian [of Como] land begins in Fino Mornasco, in the house on the corner of Via Garibaldi and the street that bears his name. Here the future saint was born on July 8, 1839, the third of eight children of Luigi, a modest wine merchant, and Colomba Trombetta of Ponzate. Now the remodeled building houses an insurance agency, a florist, a real estate agency and private homes; in the flower store, in a niche, one can still see a painting of the Madonna and Child with St. Joseph next to it, which once adorned Casa Scalabrini. He is remembered on the facade by two plaques affixed by the two congregations he founded.

Parish Church of St. Stephen

Crossing Via Garibaldi, one enters Piazza Odescalchi, in front of the parish church of S. Stefano, a building of ancient foundation subject to numerous renovations and refurbishments, the last one between 1934 and 1956 designed by engineer Giulio Valli. The interior preserves, on the right of the main entrance, the original baptismal font at which little John the Baptist was baptized by provost Don Girolamo Felli on the same day of his birth. The font at that time, before the renovation and enlargement of the church, was placed in the middle of the left aisle. A polychrome wooden bas-relief depicting the Blessed, by the artist Pozzetti, was placed in the baptistery, while in the adjacent portion of the counter-façade a marble bust, inaugurated on November 28, 1910 (23rd anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles and fifth anniversary of Scalabrini's death), a gift of Msgr. Camillo Mangot, formerly his secretary in Piacenza.

Scalabrini was also confirmed in this church on Sept. 8, 1840, by the bishop of Como Msgr. Carlo Romanò and also celebrated his first Mass there after his ordination on May 30, 1863. On the occasion of the beatification, an altar with a painting of Msgr. Scalabrini by Ettore (Friar Damaso Bianchi), a Franciscan, dated June 30, 1998, was unveiled at the end of the left aisle. After his ordination to the priesthood, Scalabrini spent the first four months between his parish and as a substitute in other nearby parishes. In Fino Mornasco he was one of the promoters of the Pious Union of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, canonically erected with a diploma dated Aug. 27, 1863.

Other remembrances

In the parish churchyard, on the occasion of the Scalabrinian year, a white marble sphere, representing the world, was placed on which stands a bronze high relief of Scalabrini's face, the work of an artist from Fino Mornasco. The same monument was originally laid on the occasion of the beatification in the garden of the "Raimondi Mantica" Nursery School.

A small community of Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinians) lives in Fino Mornasco, at 13 Via Scalabrini, in the house donated in 1994 by Luisa Scalabrini, great-granddaughter of the Founder.

Como

High School "Alessandro Volta"

On Via Cesare Cantù at number 57, just inside the walled city entering through the medieval Porta Torre, there is on the right the building of the Liceo Classico e Scientifico "Alessandro Volta," a neoclassical remodeling by architect Simone Cantoni of the former convent of the Augustinian nuns of S. Cecilia, suppressed in 1798. In this building, after finishing elementary school in Fino Mornasco, John Baptist attended the Imperial Regio High School from 1851 to 1857, distinguishing himself by brilliant intelligence and constant application.

Major Seminary

The young Scalabrini, after high school, then wished to continue his studies in the ecclesiastical field, attending first the Minor Seminary (from 1857 to 1859; see below) and then the Major Seminary (from 1859 to 1863), then housed in a beautiful neoclassical building designed by architect Simone Cantoni by remodeling the pre-existing Augustinian women's monastery of the Ascension. Currently the building, at 8 Viale Cesare Battisti, has been transformed into the "Cardinal Ferrari" Pastoral Center.

Gallio College

The Gallio College, at street number 1 on the homonymous street, was founded in 1583 by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio for poor children on the area of the ancient Domus of the Umiliati of S. Maria di Rondineto; it was entrusted to the care of the Somaschi Fathers, a Congregation founded by St. Girolamo Emiliani.

During the period of his theological studies, John Baptist Scalabrini went as prefect of discipline to the Gallio College; here in the school year 1859-1860 he met the very young Luigi Guanella, later the great Saint of Charity, with whom he always maintained friendly relations.

Cathedral

The splendid "cathedral on the lake" was begun in 1396 and built in stages over three and a half centuries. It is an articulate and complex architecture, harmoniously blending different stylistic expressions (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque), an expression of the different historical periods in which it was built, into a unified building. It was precisely in the Cathedral, the heart of the Diocese of Como, that in 1872, when he was parish priest of St. Bartholomew's, John Baptist Scalabrini gave a famous series of lectures on the First Vatican Council, which made him appreciated and known even at the Roman Curia and which was published as The Glories of the Pope in the Vatican Council.

Episcopal Palace

In the adjacent Piazza Grimoldi stands the Bishop's Palace, the oldest core of which is a sacellum [chapel] from before the 10th century; the building was later enlarged by Bishop Alberic (1007-1028) and remodeled several times.  On May 30, 1863, in the ancient inner chapel dedicated to the archangel St. Michael, Scalabrini was ordained a priest by Bishop Msgr. Giuseppe Marzorati.

Minor Seminary of Sant'Abbondio

The Como Minor Seminary, in the mid-19th century, was housed in a complex renovated by architect Giuseppe Tazzini by adapting some buildings that had sprung up in the 16th century on the area formerly occupied by the Benedictine monastery of Sant'Abbondio, next to the Romanesque basilica of the same name, and today by one of the locations of the Como Pole of the University of Insubria, at 12 Via Sant'Abbondio. John Baptist Scalabrini attended the Minor Seminary from 1857 to 1859; he would return there as a new priest as a teacher of history and Greek language, vice-rector (1863-1868) and then rector (1868-1870).

During this period, during summer vacations, he served for priestly ministry in the diocese: in 1866 he went to Andalo Valtellino, and in the summer of 1867 he provided assistance to the cholera stricken people of Portichetto, for which the Royal Government awarded him a diploma with a medal for civil valor. He remained very attached to Portichetto; he donated to the church then under construction a statue of Our Lady of the Snow, which was blessed on April 23, 1893 by Fr. Luigi Bianchi. One of Msgr. Scalabrini's sisters, Maria Maddalena known as Nina, had married 1870 Placido Bianchi of Portichetto: they had as many as eight children, including two priests, Fr Alfonso and Fr Attilio, who were born and raised in Portichetto. The statue is still greatly venerated in the new parish church.

Parish of St. Bartholomew in Como

After his experience at the Philosophical Seminary, on May 12, 1870, at the age of 31, Scalabrini was appointed parish priest Prior of St. Bartholomew's in Como (Via Milano 161); he entered on July 17. It was a very large community (which also included what would later be the parishes of S. Rocco and S. Giuseppe), with a population largely made up of laborers, especially in the silk industry, who lived in poor conditions; it also did not enjoy a very good reputation mainly because of the serious human-social problems that ran through it.

But Scalabrini did not share this opinion. To his brother Peter he wrote on February 22, 1871: "I feel good: the large population of 6,000 souls, loves and respects me and I find myself well pleased to have abandoned the direction of the Seminary [...]. Here I have a great deal of work to do, yet the work “is in my blood” [I enjoy] because I can do much good and my voice is well heard. [...] Overall I can well praise my parishioners; although they are considered the worst in the city, I would not wish to change them for others." This affection was definitely reciprocated by his parishioners, who always kept an admiring memory of him.

Attentive to the human and Christian formation of the neighborhood’s kids, he founded a boys' oratory under the protection of St. Joseph; close to the workers in the spinning and dyeing mills, he started the first Catholic Mutual Aid Society to help the unemployed and disabled; he undertook various other social initiatives, including those for textile workers and deaf-mute women. Sensitive to family issues, he opened a Kindergarten (October 1874). He also published the Piccolo catechismo per gli asili d'infanzia [Small catechism for kindergartens] (1875), which made him well known among the episcopate, not only in Lombardy, and at the Holy See.

Scalabrini stayed at S. Bartolomeo less than six years, because on February 13, 1876 Piacenza welcomed him as its bishop. He remained very attached to it, however, so much so that he was one of the first underwriters and honorary chairman of the commission for the church's renovation in the late 19th century.

On the left of the transept stands the monument to the illustrious parish priest, erected on a design by engineer Giulio Valli and blessed on September 11, 1913, by Card. Andrea Ferrari. The monument is made of red Verona marble; in the niche the bronze bust is the work of sculptor Nelli; below is a commemorative inscription. The monument is on the wall adjacent to the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows, of whom Scalabrini was a great devotee.

On the left side of the nave, on the occasion of the beatification, a chapel was built in which, within a marble sculpture by Bruno Luzzani, a relic of the Blessed is kept, inserted in a reliquary made by Mario Lissi. On the right wall of this chapel is a marble slab with Scalabrini's effigy; below, a plaque commemorates him as parish priest, bishop, apostle of the Catechism and father of migrants.

Camerlata

In 1939, the centenary of Scalabrini's birth, Como dedicated a street to him in Camerlata, the one formerly called "Via delle Stazioni." Going up Via Scalabrini in the direction of the city, just before coming out onto the busy Piazza Camerlata, at number 3 , one encounters what is currently a branch of the "Pessina" vocational institute but which, officially starting in 1936, was the new home of the Orphanage for Girls of the Immaculate, transferred here thanks to the donation of Luisa Scalabrini, sister of the bishop, formerly his collaborator at the parish of San Bartolomeo, where she directed the new parish kindergarten. From her first marriage to Luigi Rimoldi, director of the Collegio Convitto "Castellini," she had had a daughter named Maria, who died at the age of 12. In her memory the orphanage took on the new name "Istituto Maria Rimoldi."

Rebbio

Inside the parish church of San Martino di Rebbio there is a portrait of Scalabrini (currently placed on the high altar), made in memory of the provost Don Alfonso Bianchi, son of Maria Maddalena Scalabrini. Don Alfonso ruled the parish of Rebbio from 1913 to 1946, leaving an excellent memory of himself, both for his goodness of spirit and for the expansion of the church and the completion of the bell tower.

Exterior

Getting to know Fr. Scalabrini in his places

John Baptist Scalabrini walked the same roads and lived in the same places that we also walk and frequent today. This itinerary to discover the contexts that saw him as a student and young priest allows us to know and value his work and memory. St. Scalabrini matured his charism starting from his family and continuing through the years of formation and early pastoral commitments. With this spirit we look at places and cities from a different perspective, which is that of the saints and, at the same time, we also look at the saints from a new perspective, which is that of their everyday life, of being among people.

CONTACT

Parish of St. Bartholomew - Como
Phone: 348 9283118;
Hours: Monday and Friday 9:30-11 a.m.; Tuesday and Thursday 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Texts: Silvia Fasana, Saverio Xeres
Photos:
Graphics and Printing: