LAY MISSIONARY TO THE LEPERS

Here is a missionary who gave up wealth, family and  home to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, ministering to the least among us. VENERABLE MARCELLO CANDIA  (1916-1983) was an Italian Roman Catholic industrialist and entrepreneur who became active in the missions in Brazil. He worked to protect Jewish people during World War II and was involved in preventing their deportation by the creation of new documents that would save the Italkim lives by making pass them as non-Jewish Italians, in particular for children by hiding them in homes and industries or helping them to safety relocate to the UK or America.

Marcello Candia was born in 1916 to a Milanese industrialist family, in Naples while his parents were temporarily expanding business in Southern Italy. His father, Camillo de Candia, was an industrialist from an old aristocratic family of Milan, and his mother Luigia Mussato from an old noble family from Milan.

The Venerable said of his parents: "I had parents who gave me a zeal for life". His mother instilled the faith in her children and weekly he accompanied his mother to visit the poor.

In 1939 he acquired a Ph.D. in chemistry and worked at the beginning of World War II in explosives. He earned his doctorate in 1943 in biological sciences. He also took an active part in the resistance against the Nazi forces that occupied the region, often risking his own life working with the Capuchin friars assisting the Jews threatened with deportation. The war's end saw him help deportees and prisoners return to their homes while he opened a medical and humanitarian welcome center at the local train station with three friends.

In 1950, at his father's death and at WWII end, Venerable Marcello assumed full management of his family’s chemical industrial factory headquartered in Milan with full control of its operation across Italy. After experiencing the world devastation of WWII, he developed a deep awareness for the plight of the poor, concern that prompted him to sell his factory in 1964 (creating a rift with his younger brother Riccardo). 

It was around this point that he first met the Capuchin friar Alberto Beretta (the brother of St Gianna and himself now up for canonization) who was preparing to leave for the missions in Brazil; during his conversation with Beretta  Marcello learned of the terrible conditions of the poor people of the Amazons. In 1957 he made his first visit to Macapá in Brazil, where he studied the issues and assessed the local needs and problems at the request of the PIME priest Aristide Pirovano.

Eventually, he commissioned the building of a church for the Saint Benedict parish. In 1965, he met in a private audience with Pope (St.) Paul VI just before moving to Brazil, later he said of the decision: "I am called to live with them". One of his initial barriers was his difficulties in learning the Brazilian Portuguese language. To finance his Missionary enterprise, Candia sold his father's business the profitable Italian Factory of Carbonic Acid, Dr. Candia & Company, leaving all behind in Italy and relocating to Macapá; around that time in 1964 this action caused an extreme rift with his younger brother Riccardo who resented the fact that he sold the organization to go to Brazil.

He then moved to Brazil to assist the people in need living in the Amazons. He was dedicated to social justice initiatives and supported the work of the local charities. He was subject to suspicion in the beginning since some missionaries were confused about someone from great wealth coming to serve the poor and living as a poor man. He shrugged off those suspicions and considered himself a disciple of the poor, wishing only to alleviate their suffering and social conditions.

His main concern was the construction of a hospital, started in 1961, in Macapá, Brazil, to be for the assistance of the poor. The hospital opened a decade later in 1971. He also opened a center outside the town he lived in for the lepers working with them until the end of his life. Venerable Marcello’s health grew worse over time despite his exhaustive work standards which led to several health crises leading to his death back in Italy in 1983.

Candia liked reading about the lives of (Bl) Pier Giorgio Frassati and St Thérèse of Lisieux while at his new home had no running water in his room; this prompted him to use the tap-water outside to fill a jug for self-wash and shave. In 1975 a popular Brazilian magazine dedicated a long article to him titled "The Best Man in Brazil" - he was quick to shrug this honor off and said: "I am but a humble instrument of Providence". Since 1967 he suffered four consecutive heart attacks and grew fearful that another could claim his life; on 9 April 1977 (Good Friday) he had to have a triple bypass in São Paulo and was urged to seek better treatment in his homeland if he wished to survive. Candia returned to his work in Brazil a month later after heading back home for treatment. In 1982 he founded the Fondazione Candia to keep his work alive.

 During his time in Brazil he became known as the "Doctor Schweitzer of the Amazon" and in 1980 met Pope  (St.) John Paul II after the latter visited his leper hospital. He collapsed due to ill health in May 1983 prompting plans for him to go to Milan for treatment.

He left Belem for his homeland on 10 August 1983 knowing he would die there but wanted to get his health checked as well as to reconcile with his brother Riccardo with whom there were difficulties. But he fell ill on the plane and once he arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris he collapsed and was rushed to hospital. He was taken to the San Pio X Clinic in Milan on 11 August. The skin cancer soon metastasized to his liver causing liver cancer. He died on 31 August 1983 at 5:30pm in the San Pio X Clinic in Milan and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini presided over his funeral on 2 September. 

He died from liver cancer and skin cancer as well as a related bone tumor over his right lung. His remains were later transferred on 6 April 2006 to the parish of the SS. Guardian Angels and were placed to the left side of the altar.