BLESSED ALBERT MARVELLI (1918-1946)
Love never sleeps
The vocation of a Salesian Past Pupil
He is the first Salesain past pupil to be declared Blessed by the Church. On the occasion of his beatification I wrote: “The beatification of Alberto Marvelli is a call to find the path to holiness in the family, in one’s profession, in political life: but it is also a recognition that Salesian education is capable of forming saints.” This was the great conviction and the personal experience of Don Bosco, the priest educator and the former of young saints.
Well before the new approach of Vatican II to the laity and their commitment in society, Albert had re-affirmed his vocation as a lay person engaged in the world, seen not as something negative but as the Lord’s vineyard in which to work with competence and with love, according to God’s criteria expressed in the Gospel. In this way he lived out his holiness in study, in work, in every situation in which he found himself, either by choice or in the course of events. Marvelli lived within the history of the world collaborating with courage and with love to make it into a history of salvation for all. Our vocation and mission in this world is no different.
After the family circle, the life of Albert Marvelli, and the place where he matures and grows, is in the setting of the Salesian oratory in Rimini and the parish of Mary Help of Christians. God’s call comes through the faith of his family and through the circumstances full of life and Christian commitment of the Salesian oratory, where the example and the appeal of Dominic Savio are very powerful and contagious: Albert prays with recollection, teaches catechism with conviction, demonstrates zeal, charity, serenity, purity. He stands out among the boys of the Oratory for his uncommon virtues, for the apparent ease and spontaneity with which he does the most difficult things. The mould for his human, apostolic and spiritual formation is the Salesian one. Albert is only 15, but the Salesians recognise the stuff he is made of: he becomes the delegate of the Aspirants and the generous leader in the Oratory. He works with great dedication among the youngsters, leading them with a good appreciation of the value of games and entertainment. He is intelligent, gifted with a good memory, calm although lively, with a strong personality, generous, guided by a deep sense of responsibility and justice; thanks to his human qualities he has a strong influence on his companions; he is respected by everyone on account of his good qualities.
However, Marvelli was not born with angel’s wings and a halo; his self-conquest was to be gradual and difficult. In this atmosphere his fundamental option to belong to Jesus and to follow him matures. He writes in his Diary: “There is no room for half measures, one cannot reconcile Jesus and the devil, grace and sin. Well then, I want to belong totally to Jesus, all his. If up to now I have been a little unsure from on there must be no more uncertainty; the path has been chosen: to suffer anything but not to sin any more. Jesus , death rather than sin; help me to keep this promise .”
“To serve is better than to be served. Jesus serves!” – he writes in his diary. And it is in this spirit that he faces up to his heavy civic responsibilities. Albert becomes a passionate rebuilder of the city, sparing no effort because he is aware of and suffers on account of the shortages, the needs, the despair of the people. When he was engaged in the difficult task of rebuilding the earthly city, some one reproved him saying he should have been spending more time on church affairs. Albert replied with simplicity: “This too is the apostolate,” in this way re-affirming his vocation as a layman engaged in the world. He saw his commitment in political life as a service to the community: political activity could and should be the highest expression of a living faith. Albert served the Lord in those least regarded. He kept them in mind especially in moments of prayer, in his conversation with God to whom he raised up his thoughts bringing in his heart the poor, his most dear brothers.
In the summer of 1946, after a long period of reflection, he decides about his vocation, which in the preceding years had vacillated between religious consecration and the priesthood. Now he has decided: start a family and to ask to be his companion Marilena Aldè from Lecco, whom he had known at Rimini during the summer holidays, during the years in the Sixth Form and with whom he had formed a strong spiritual friendship. Albert decided to speak to Marilena about his intentions, and then on 27 August he wrote her a long letter. “…since last Monday once again I have felt my heart beating as I thought about you, after I saw you beautiful as ever and your eyes rather sad but so kind. Could this be the call reawakening my love?” There is no reply to his letter. Even for this painful experience Albert is prepared: “I love the Lord too much to rebel or shed tears about his will … to this will we have to sacrifice the fulfilment of our own desires and earthy ideals.”
The life of Albert is a strong appeal, especially to lay people, to “witness to the faith through your own specific virtues: fidelity and gentleness in the family, competence at work, tenacity in serving the common good, solidarity in social relations, creativity in doing useful deeds for evangelization and human promotion. It is also up to you, in close communion with the Pastors, to show that the Gospel is timely and that faith does not tear the believer from history but roots him in it more deeply. witness to the faith by means of the virtues proper to you,” John Paul II writes.
