⛪ Saint of the Day : March 4
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| Blessed Giovanni Fausti, Pray for us ! |
⛪ Other Names :
• Gjon Fausti
⛪ Born :
• 19 October 1899 in Brozzo, Marcheno, Val Trompia, Brescia, Italy
⛪ Died :
• Shot on 4 March 1946 in ShkodrΓ©, Albania
Giovanni Fausti was born in Brozzo, a fraction of Marcheno, in Val Trompia (in the province and diocese of Brescia) on 9 October 1899, the eldest of twelve children of Antonio Fausti and Maria Sigolini, religious parents and prone to charity. A happy and serene child, he matured his priestly vocation and at the age of 10, he entered the seminary of Brescia, where he had as a fellow student Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Blessed Paul VI. He was ordained a priest on 9 July 1922 and graduated from the Pontificia UniversitΓ Gregoriana in Rome . The following year he became a professor of philosophy in Brescia at the same seminary.
In 1924, Giovanni joined the Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu) in Gorizia and from 1929 to 1932 he held the chair of philosophy in ShkodΓ«r. He quickly learned the difficult Albanian language, carrying out in-depth studies on Islam in order to start a serious and concrete dialogue between Muslims and Christians. In the years from 1931 to 1933, he wrote a series of articles on this subject, for the pages of the magazine "La CiviltΓ Cattolica", which were then collected and published in the volume "Islam in the light of Catholic thought". Always in this light, he founded the League "Friends of the Islamic East", widespread in Italy and abroad.
In 1932, he was recalled to Mantua (Italy), as a professor of philosophy and as a superior for that Jesuit community. While in Mantua, symptoms of tuberculosis manifested themselves, a disease which had already been affected in light form when in Albania. Therefore, from August 1933 until 1936, he had to undergo long and specific treatments, first in Alto Adige and then in Davos in Switzerland. At the beginning of 1936, he resumed teaching, this time at the "Aloisianum" faculty of Gallarate (in the province of Varese and the diocese of Milan), where, on 2 February 1936, he solemnly professed his profession. In Gallarate, he remained six years, demonstrating eminent pedagogical and intellectual skills. In the same period he wrote the volume "Theory of Abstraction", published posthumously in 1947.
The Superiors of the Society of Jesus, conscious of his gifts and virtues, decided in July 1942 to entrust him with a delicate and very difficult task, that of Rector of the Pontifical Seminary of ShkodΓ«r in Albania and of the annexed Xaverian College. After a year, in 1943, he transferred his duties to an Albanian Jesuit, Fr Daniel Dajani.
He then moved to Tirana, where he was busy defending and assisting Italians and Albanians, both Christians and Muslims, involved in the tragedy of the Second World War. He was also wounded by a German bullet that hit the apex of the healthy lung, breaking his collarbone.
The situation worsened again when, at the end of 1944, the Germans withdrew and the Communist partisans, commanded by Enver Hoxha, conquered power and carried out all sorts of abuses against Catholics. They were particularly angry against the bishops, the Franciscans and the Jesuits; the latter because, through the education of young people, they contributed to the cultural formation of the ruling classes of the country, especially in the North. Confident in the prudence of Father Giovanni, the superiors, in May 1945, he was promoted by the Vice-Provincial of the Jesuits in Albania.
In December, one of the seminary students, Fran Gaçi, died in his own home after being tortured by Sigurimi (the secret police) and released. On 31 December, together with Fr Daniel Dajani, he went to the village of origin of the young man, for a suffrage Mass. That same evening, as soon as they returned to Shkodër, the two priests were arrested.
Fr Giovanni was held in solitary confinement for two months and, even later, was subjected to torture. They were accused as Albanian traitors and Vatican spies. It was in fact the pseudonym with which the seminarians Mark Γuni and Gjergj Bici had signed some leaflets with which they had tried to counteract the communist propaganda, printed on their own and without mentioning it to the superiors. Every time he had to go from prison to court, Fr Giovanni was heavily insulted. For example, a woman came forward shouting in an angry voice: "A bullet in the forehead!" And, so saying, spat in his face. In response, he nodded and commented, "Forgive her Father, because she does not know what she's doing!"
On 22 February 1946, after a show trial, the sentences were read. Eight were sentenced to death by shooting: Fr Gjon Shllaku, Fr Giovanni Fausti, Fr Daniel Dajani, seminarians Mark Γuni and Gjergj Bici, lay people Gjelosh Lulashi, Fran Mirakaj, and Qerim Sadiku. The others accused with them were sentenced to prison, for a period that could go from five years to the whole of life, in fact, if they had even minimally transgressed. For Gjergj Bici, the sentence was later commuted into years of forced labor, while Fran Mirakaj is reported to have died in September 1946.
At dawn on 4 March 1947, the remaining six were transported to the Catholic Cemetery of ShkodΓ«r (Varrezat e Rrmajit), where they were executed. At 6 am, the order was given to the eight soldiers of the platoon, armed with machine guns, to "FIRE".
Fr Giovanni then pronounced his last words: "I am happy to die in the fulfillment of my duty. Give my greetings to the Jesuit brothers, deacons, priests and the archbishop. Long live Christ the King!"
On 5 November 2016, beatification was celebrated at the Square of the Katedralja e ShΓ«n Stefanit in ShkodΓ«r, presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato.