ERBA- “An event that marked the life of Father Aristide and contributed to shaping his indomitable spirit and faith in Providence.” In the Rotunda of the San Vittore prison in Milan, Rosanna Pirovano, president of the Association of Friends of Monsignor Aristide Pirovano, defined the arrest of Father Aristide (December 7, 1943) at the beginning of the Mass celebrated on Sunday, December 3 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of that event. “Father Aristide was a light, even in San Vittore, like in his community and in the missions where he worked,” echoed Father Marco Recalcati, chaplain of the prison, who presided over the Mass, concelebrated by the Provost of Erba, Monsignor Angelo Pirovano, and Father Paul Prashant, an Indian missionary of the PIME about to leave for the Philippines, who wrote his thesis on Father Aristide.
In addition to the Board of Directors of the Friends, representatives of the Erba civil and ecclesial community were present: Erica Rivolta, councilor, representing the Mayor; Sister Rosanna Brambilla, a Sister of Saint Giovanna Antida like Sister Enrichetta Alfieri (“The Angel of San Vittore”, now blessed); Dr. Franca Pasquino Prati, president of the San Vincenzo Cooperative; representatives of the Sant’Eufemia community, the Alpine troops, and the missionary associations Friends of Lilia and Nisshash; the Cantori di Erba directed by Francesco Andreoni, who animated the liturgy.
It was an intense morning, starting before dawn with the departure by bus from Erba. Upon arrival in Milan, the Pirovano family members, Dr. Alessandra Capé, president of the Marcello Candia Foundation, and Cesare Grampa, director of the Gianfranco Puecher Cultural Center, joined the group. However, due to a family bereavement, Brother Gedovar Nazzari, General Treasurer of the Poor Servants of Divine Providence of the Don Calabria Work and “successor” of Father Aristide in the Brazilian mission of Marituba, could not be present.
At the entrance of the prison, the participants were greeted by Claudio Oliva, a permanent deacon who serves there and who explained the access procedures to the facility, promptly and cordially handled by the prison guards. Once inside, Oliva accompanied the group through the 1st Ray to the Rotunda where the six rays of the male section converge, where, after some choir rehearsals, the Mass began.
Immediately after the blessing, President Pirovano spoke, recalling the reason for Father Aristide’s arrest (“his clandestine action in favor of Jews and anti-fascists, a natural expression of his closeness to the weak and persecuted”), the three months of imprisonment (“resisting the violence and torture of the Nazi fascists who wanted to extract information from him”), and his release thanks to the intervention of Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Archbishop of Milan.
The Mass continued in an atmosphere of great solemnity: even the present inmates were attentive and participatory. An atmosphere to which the musical animation of the Cantori, accompanied on the organ by Camillo Bonfanti, certainly contributed: pieces of remarkable suggestion performed with deep involvement. The “gem” was the pastoral Sanctus, by an unknown author, but of Erba origin, since it has been sung exclusively in Erba from ancient times during the period from the Immaculate Conception (December 8) to Epiphany (January 6). “A super-choir,” praised the chaplain, who set the tone for the warm applause directed at the group.
At the end, Father Marco invited everyone present to pray for the prisoners and for the staff of San Vittore, recalling the hope expressed by Rosanna Pirovano in concluding her speech: “Father Aristide’s charitable impulse accompanies and protects all of us and all the people who live and work in this prison.”
