{"id":308128,"date":"2021-12-10T03:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T02:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/friends-and-saints\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:42:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T18:42:55","slug":"friends-and-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/friends-and-saints\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends and saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

The beatification process of Alberto Michelotti and Carlo Grisolia completed its diocesan phase on 8 October 2021. Their story tells of a shared journey in true friendship.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em> How can we become \u201csaints together\u201d? It\u2019s not easy. It takes time, for sure, and above all a commitment to travel in the same direction, focussing on the same source of light. This is the story of Alberto Michelotti (Genoa, 1958 – Monte Argentera, 1980) and Carlo Grisolia (Bologna, 1960 \u2013 Genoa, 1980), two young Italians, very different in many ways but linked by a great friendship and a shared desire to keep God at the centre of their lives. The charism and ideal of the Focolare Movement drew them both and forged true sharing and fraternity between them. They both departed this life in 1980, just 40 days apart: Albert in a mountain climbing accident, Carlo in hospital of a tumour. These two friends are united in a shared process of canonization, launched in 2005 by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop of Genoa. The diocesan phase just concluded on 8 October 2021. So who are these two young men? Alberto was a natural leader and a \u201cwinner\u201d. But his leadership was always in the spirit of service, attentive to those around him, especially the most needy and the youth. Born and raised with his family in the port of Genoa in northern Italy, he attended the parish of St Sebastian with his parents. He was active in many aspects of parish life, including Catholic Action and later, through Rev Fr Mario Terrile, he encountered the spirituality of Chiara Lubich. He was overwhelmed by this. During the Focolare\u2019s summer Mariapolis meeting in 1977, Alberto embraced the \u2018good news\u2019 which transformed his life for ever, the reality of \u201cGod who is Love\u201d. The same year he became an active member of the Gen Movement, the \u201cnew generation\u201d of the Focolare. Here he met Carlo and found a profound unity, overcoming the barriers caused by their very differing characters. Carlo was a shy and poetic young man. A student of agronomy, he loved reading, playing the guitar and writing songs. He was a dreamer, quite unlike the mountain-climbing, rational, mathematical engineering student, Alberto. And yet they shared a great desire to communicate the Gospel ideal of a united world with joy and enthusiasm. And to put into practice Jesus\u2019 message \u201cWhere two or more are united in my name, I am in their midst<\/em>\u201d (Matthew 18:15-20). Carlo had known the Focolare since childhood through his parents. He drew from the spirituality the \u2018strategy\u2019 of \u201cbecoming saints together\u201d. When Chiara Lubich launched this invitation to the youth, Carlo took it to heart, at the time his family transferred to Genoa. The Focolare founder called Carlo \u2018Vir\u2019, meaning \u201ctrue person, strong person\u201d, and Carlo took this as a guiding principle for his life, drawing his strength from Jesus, the only possible source of energy, as he wrote in one of his songs: \u201cBreathe in the air the love which comes from the new sun which opens up on you<\/em>\u201d. The friendship between these two young men lasted just 3 years. But the sharing and understanding of their own life experiences indicate a maturity beyond their years. In their quest for authentic Love, they each discovered purity as an instrument to achieve true freedom. And they shared this ideal with their friends. We can see reflections of their deepest thoughts in letters they wrote, long before social media was available. \u201cThis is likely to be your military service year\u201d, Alberto wrote in a letter to Carlo on his 19th birthday. \u201cNew difficulties and new joys. A bit like today which began with a beautiful blue sky and now by 4 in the afternoon has transformed into wintery grey. But anyway we know that beyond the clouds the sun is surely there<\/em>\u201d. Alberto and Carlo mirrored one another, recognising each other\u2019s joys and fears, struggles and successes. Trusting in the Love that can achieve everything, they were ready to live the Gospel passage: \u201cNo-one has greater love than to give their life for their friends<\/em>\u201d (John 15:13). Alberto lost his life in the Cuneo mountains on 18 August 1980. He fell during a climb along a glacial gully in the Maritime Alps. Carlo was not able to attend the funeral. Two days earlier, he had been admitted for tests after some episodes of fainting and paralysis of the limbs. The results were unequivocal. The doctor did not hide the seriousness of the situation from Carlo and he was immediately rushed into hospital with advanced cancer. While there, he was told of Alberto\u2019s fatal accident. Only 40 days would separate the two friends before they were reunited in eternity. From his hospital bed, in his last days, Carlo greeted all his visitors with a huge smile, despite being so weak. \u201cI know where I\u2019m going,\u201d he said to a nurse, \u201cI\u2019m going to meet one of my friends who left us a few days ago in a mountain accident\u201d. Carlo felt Alberto\u2019s presence beside him as he looked to his own \u201cleap into God\u201d, as he described it to his mother in hospital. He made that leap into eternity and the home of the Father on 29 September 1980. Today, 40 years on, the ties of friendship between Alberto and Carlo seem as strong as ever as they move into a new and quite extraordinary phase. Never before in the history of the Church have two distinct processes of beatification been considered alongside each other and for two friends. Of course, they cannot be declared blessed or saints until two miracles through their intercession have been verified. But given that they are being prayed to together, they can only be \u201csaints together\u201d. This indicates that a spiritual friendship can be a pathway to holiness. In their lives we perceive the fulfilment of that phrase \u201cthy kingdom come … on earth as in heaven\u201d and such true joy, fruit of a prophetic inspiration expressed by Chiara: \u201cI pray you will become saints, great saints, and soon. In this way, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll find true happiness\u201d[1]<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Maria Grazia Berretta<\/em><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Chiara Lubich\u2019s message to “GEN”, Anno XV (1981), n. 4, p. 2-3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The beatification process of Alberto Michelotti and Carlo Grisolia completed its diocesan phase on 8 October 2021. Their story tells of a shared journey in true friendship.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}