ANOTHER HOLY LAYMAN

Our new Holy Father has been very busy the past month giving us new saints and furthering others along the path to sainthood.  One example is VENERABLE ATTILIO GIORDANI, a layman and Salesian Cooperator born in Milan in 1913, who was elevated October 11 to Venerable.

Son of a railway worker, Attilio got to know of St. Don Bosco at the Salesian Oratory in the city.  From an early age he was outstanding for his love of the Oratory and, by eighteen, for his dedication to the young people who frequented it. For many decades, he was an ardent catechist finding the resources for a life of grace through the sacraments, and in prayer and spiritual direction.

In over 10 years of military service, including those of World War II, he witnessed to the faith among his comrades in arms. After the war, he founded the "Crusade of Goodness" to restore hope to young people.

He married Naomi Davanzo, and they had three children. As a husband and father he showed great serenity and kindness, choosing voluntary austerity and evangelical poverty, in order to help the needy. Every day he was faithful to his meditation, Eucharist and Rosary.

When grown, his three sons went to Brazil to spend a period as volunteer missionaries. Attilio and his wife Noemi decided to go to share in the vocation of their sons, as volunteers in Operation Mato Grosso. In Brazil, he continued to work as a catechist and leader.

In Brazil

On December 8 (the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady), 1972, at Campo Grande, during a reunion, he spoke enthusiastically and ardently of the duty to give one's life for others, when he suddenly felt weak. He had just time to say to his son: "Pier Giorgio, you carry on" when he died of a heart attack.

His remains were brought back to Italy and now repose in the Church of St. Ambrose in Milan. He is a model for our times of  lay holiness lived in joy.