Father Silvano Cola (1928–2007), a priest with a background in psychology and education, spent the early days of his ministry working with children in situations of neglect and hardship at the “Città dei Ragazzi” in Turin. There, he developed an educational method based on personalised learning programmes, which was groundbreaking at the time. In 1954, at the age of 26, he met the Focolare Movement, founded by Chiara Lubich, and the charism of unity, which had a profound influence on his priestly ministry. Over the years, he focused particularly on the formation of the clergy and on spreading the charism of unity, contributing to the establishment and development of the Movement’s branch for priests. Chiara Lubich regarded him as a co-founder of this reality.
“I will never forget what happened on the day of my ordination,” recalls Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-Sik,, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, who had known Father Silvano since he was a seminarian. “When we returned to the sacristy, Father Silvano came up to me and placed a chain with a gold cross round my neck. ‘This is your Spouse,’ he said. As if to say: this is your faithful travelling companion, the one with whom to share everything and in whom, in every painful circumstance, you are to recognise the key to making your life and your ministry fruitful. ‘Live your life with him!’ A charge that has shaped my life’s journey and still guides me to this day.”
The ceremony will be presided over by Monsignor Stefano Russo, Bishop of Velletri-Segni and Frascati, and marks the official opening of the ecclesiastical process aimed at gathering testimonies and documentation on the life, virtues and reputation for holiness of Father Silvano Cola.
The following will be present: Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-Sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy; Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, Archbishop Emeritus of L’Aquila and President of the Commission of Cardinals for the Supervision of the IOR; Monsignor Tommaso Caputo, Archbishop-Prelate of Pompeii; Monsignor Vincenzo Zani, Archbishop, Archivist and Librarian Emeritus of the Holy Roman Church; Monsignor Sandro Salvucci, Archbishop of Pesaro and Urbino-Urbania-Sant’Angelo in Vado; Monsignor Michele Fusco, Bishop of Sulmona-Valva; Monsignor Gianfranco De Luca, Bishop Emeritus of Termoli-Larino; Margaret Karram and Roberto Almada, President and Co-President of the Focolare Movement… family members…
Stefania Tanesini
Live streaming will be available at: http://live.focolare.org/donsilvano in Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German.
To mark the occasion, the book “Rendere luminosa la notte. Biografia di Silvano Cola. Seconda parte (1967–2007)” [Lighting Up the Night: A Biography of Silvano Cola. Part Two (1967–2007)] by Fernando Muraca (Città Nuova publishing house) will be released.
Programme
3.30 pm: Eucharistic Celebration. 4.30 pm: Presentation of the Servant of God Father Silvano Cola. This will be followed by the opening of the Diocesan Inquiry – First session.
Biography of Father Silvano Cola
Father Silvano Cola was born in Camerino, in the Marche region of Italy, on the 22nd of January 1928. A few months later, his family moved to Lanzo Torinese in Piedmont, at the foot of the Graian Alps. The faith instilled in him by his mother, and with the support of the parish priest, led him to enter the minor seminary in Giaveno (TO) in October 1937, at just nine years of age.
His formative years leading up to his ordination as a priest were marked by the difficult period of the Second World War. At the age of 22, he was ordained a priest on the 27th of June 1950, thanks to a special dispensation, as he had not yet reached the minimum age required by church regulations to become a priest.
His desire to remain true to the Gospel led him to choose to devote himself to the Città dei Ragazzi, founded by Father Giovanni Battista Arbinolo, and there, amidst the uncertainties of a project still in its early stages, he devised a groundbreaking educational system for children who had been abandoned or were facing hardship.
This experience caused a stir both in ecclesiastical circles and in secular society, and the Piedmontese Education Authority asked him to give lectures to teachers in training.
Despite the fruits of his educational efforts – which led him to be presented to the parishioners of the parish where he became an assistant parish priest as a “new Don Bosco” – he was put to the test by a profound crisis of faith, during which he even considered leaving the priesthood.
It was during this same period that he met some of the first focolarine in Turin – consecrated laywomen belonging to the Focolare Movement, founded by Chiara Lubich. Their witness to a life lived according to the Gospel helped him to rediscover his faith and the meaning of his priestly vocation.
His encounter with the charism of unity had a profound impact on his ministry. Over the years, he contributed to the establishment and development of the Priests Movement, of which he was a co-founder. He dedicated himself to the formation and accompaniment of priests, promoting a life of communion and exploring, in the light of the Second Vatican Council, the relationship between the priestly ministry and the spirituality of unity. He died on the 17th of February 2007 after a life of devoted service to the Church.
Father Silvano was a steadfast guide to many people – including priests, deacons, consecrated persons and laypeople – helping them to love the Church and the people of God with a Marian spirit and guiding them towards a sincere and radical choice of God, such as the one that had shaped his own life.
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