austra L asia 1174

The Martyrs Ascent: Versiglia and Caravario recognised in unique ceremony at Oliva Gessi

OLIVA GESSI (Italy): 27th June 2005 --  "Cina-Cina" is a cry in the local lingo, heard from housewives gathering chickens in the yard.  But on 25th June last, the visitors swelling the population of the little village of Oliva Gessi in Lombardy, with barely 200 inhabitants of its own,  could have been forgiven for believing the housewives were thinking of Sts Louis Versiglia and Callistus Caravario's Chinese martyrdom.  In fact they were gathering chickens for a 132nd birthday celebration - and more.
    It was 5th June, not 25th, that Versiglia was born, but the idea of constructing a monument to Sts L.Versiglia and C. Caravario (the latter was born in nearby Cuorgne') was the dream of the previous parish priest, Don Vittorio, who died on 25th June 2000.
    The 'Martyrs Ascent' as it is now called, is a monument comprising 73 steps, and on this 25th June 2005 it was solemnly blessed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB, Cardinal Archbishop of Genova, in the presence of the Bishop of Tortona, the mayor and deputy mayor (by name of Versiglia), all the villagers of Oliva, Salesians and Salesian Cooperators from nearby Parvia, Fr. Vaclav Klement, EAO Regional, and the mayor and many villagers of Cuorgne' as well. The blessing took place after a solemn Eucharistic celebration.
    St Louis Versiglia, who arrived 100 years ago in Macau as the first Salesian to enter what is now the East Asia-Oceania Salesian Region, had started a band within a month of his arrival in Macau.  The blessing of Martyrs Ascent featured a band in his memory.
    Fr Klement had an opportunity to address the crowd gathered in the piazza in front of the village Church: he reminded his listeners of the faraway fruitfulness of that first step into Macau by Versiglia, later to be joined by Callistus Caravario.  Today there are 1300 or more Salesians, mostly indigenous to the region - only 150 missionaries.

VOCABULARY
lingo: slang term for language, in this case a dialect of Italian spoken in and around Pavia province - probably closer to Piedmontese.
comprising: made up of
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