ROME, SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 (Zenit.org).- On September 18, 2017, a celebration was held in the Cathedral of Cremona, Lombardy (Italy) for the launching of the diocesan phase of the Cause of Beatification of Italian priest Father Primo Mazzolari (1890-1959), known as “the friend of poor people,” reported the Vatican agency SIR.
“A Cause of Beatification isn’t a battle to come to a victory. It’s a course of recognition of the value of a person’s evangelical witness. That’s why this phase doesn’t call for being for or against, but for prayer,” said Father Bruno Bignami, President of the Mazzolari Foundation and Postulator of the Cause.
“The beginning of the Cause doesn’t have the tone of a feast but of a prayer and an invocation, nor is it a purely juridical event. It’s an ecclesial event,” he added.
“The Church of Cremona prays to the Lord to enlighten her to recognize the signs of His presence in the life of saints. The coming months will be dedicated to listening to witnesses who were able to know, meet and receive graces from the Servant of God Father Primo Mazzolari. It’s a time of memory,” said as well Father Bruno Bignami.
On June 20, 2017, Pope Francis recollected himself before the tomb of Father Primo Mazzolari at Bozzolo, in the province of Mantua. “Father Mazzolari was a parish priest who was convinced that ‘the destinies of the world mature in the periphery’ and he made of his humanity an instrument of God’s mercy,” said the Pontiff. “He also thought of an outgoing Church,” he specified, quoting Father Mazzolari: “To walk, it’s necessary to go out of the house and of the Church, if the people of God no longer come there.”
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
