Who Really Was Father Luigi Villa? WhoWho ReallyReally WasWas FatherFather LuigiLuigi Villa?Villa? by Dr. Franco Adessa -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One might not even attempt to understand who, in fact, Fr. Luigi Villa was, without taking into account the words spoken by Pope Pius XII to his Pro-Secretary of State, Card. Domenico Tardini: «Tell Mgr. Giambattista Bosio I approve the assignment entrusted to Fr. Luigi Villa from Padre Pio. I grant him a papal mandate, he must earn a degree in Dogmatic Theology and he must be entrusted to the Cardinals: Alfredo Ottaviani, Pietro Palazzini and Pietro Parente. Also tell Msgr. Bosio that, in the history of the Church, this is the first time that such a task has been entrusted to a young priest. And also tell him that it will be the last.» -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Apostolate of Our Lady of Good Success 1288 Summit Ave Suite 107 Oconomowoc, WI. 53066 USA Phone 262-567-0920 website: www.ourladyofgoodsuccess.com e-mail: [email protected] Faith and so he decided to follow that path. After completing his high school and theological studies, he was ordained a Born in Lecco, February 3, 1918, Lui- priest on June 28, 1942. gi Villa, the second of three sons, re- The next day, June 29, 1942, he cele- ceived from his mother a wonderful brated his first Mass in the Cathe- gift: The Faith. How many times I dral of Lecco. He told me himself heard him say these words: «I have what happened that day. the faith of my mother.» A mother He arrived in Lecco. Upon entering who, when the parish priest came into the cathedral, the priest told him he the house, knelt and kissed his hand; a could just begin the Mass. In the mother who had taught him that Prov- church, there were twenty elderly idence always woke up half an hour people who were wondering who that before he did. A mother who had priest was. There was no announce- ment, no sign, no reference at all to this event of the celebration of his first Mass. Nothing at all! After Mass, the pastor said, «You may go now. Go now to your par- ents for lunch.» Nothing had been prepared! There wasn’t even a glass of water! Fr. Lui- gi Villa went to his parents’ house ... he had lunch with them and watched them cry as they ate their lunch! This was his first Mass! But there was Someone who knew the meaning of that Mass. For it would be exactly 21 years later from that date of June 29, 1942, that Satan would be enthroned in the Pauline Chapel with a double Black Mass; the New Universal Church of Man of Satanic inspiration would be born, and this would begin the reign of the Antichrist. But it was just that priest, that one who on June 29, celebrated his first Mass ignored by all, who would be employed, in a unique and unrepeatable way, to defend the Church of Christ from its worst in- Father Luigi Villa, shortly ternal enemies who had begun the after being ordained a priest, in 1942. reign of the Antichrist. Fr. Villa exercised his priestly min- istry in the Comboni Institute for about a decade. He was a respected taught him to accept all that God sent preacher and lecturer. His conferences him, even the misfortunes ... and these were appreciated and popular in many were not lacking in the family of Fr. cities and places in Italy. In addition, Villa! he devoted himself particularly to the One day, he saw a Comboni Father training of young people. 3 It was exactly his connection with the Comboni Sisters, while there were young people and the influence he ex- only 2 religious [priests]: he and an- erted on them that procured a death other very old Comboni. At one point, sentence for him. In fact, a Fascist he said: «I was prohibited to study, personage, the Minister of Justice, to learn Arabic and English, to Roberto Farinacci, issued a death teach, to preach, to confess ... and I sentence against him. The reasoning had a nun as a superior.» was the following: «No one knows I asked him: «So, for what purpose who Father Luigi Villa is; apparent- did they send you to Aswan?» ly he has been sent to incite the He gazed at me with a sad look and youth against the Republic.» The said, «To die.» execution of death by a firing squad did not take place due to a “tip-off” made by an official of the Ministry of Justice who, secretly and promptly, forewarned a confrere of Fr. Villa, Father Ceccarini - who lived at the Comboni Institute of Crema with Fr. Luigi - so he escaped. So, Fr. Villa climbed out of a window and fled just as a jeep with six heavi- ly armed soldiers of the firing squad was arriving. This condemnation weighed on Fr. Villa for the duration of the Italian So- cial Republic; there was always an at- mosphere of death, a constant threat surrounding him. Only with the end of the war on July 25, 1945, was he liberated from this nightmare! During the war, Fr. Villa also did his utmost to save entire Jewish families. In fact, in obedience to the provi- sions of Pius XII, Father Luigi res- Lusignoli Alina, cued 57 Jews, in three trips to the mother of Father Luigi Villa. mountains on the border between Italy and Switzerland, risking his life on every trip. After the war, the young Fr. Villa had a brief missionary experience in «To die? And what did you do during Egypt. It seemed strange to me that, the entire time in Aswan?» for decades, Father never told me any- «I cried and I prayed! I had several thing about it, and that only a few collapses; after the fourth they put me weeks before his death he decided to on a train car and I heard the words of do so. my superior who said to the doctor: The place was Aswan, 900 kilometers “He will not reach Cairo alive.”» south of Cairo. He spoke of the heat But Fr. Villa remained in a hospital in he suffered and nights spent in the ter- Cairo for several months until, on Oc- race where, at night, the “low” tem- tober 13, 1949, he left Egypt and re- perature was around 40 °C [104° F]. turned to Comboni headquarters in In the city, there was a school run by Verona. 4 After Fr. Villa returned alive from the vocations to the Institute.» Mission, the Comboni superiors en- Even the Superiors of Verona, in the trusted him with the task of “pur- early 50s, knew how to count, but in suer” of vocations. At that time, November 1952, they preferred to re- however, Fr. Villa’s family was hit ward Father Villa with a Letter of with a shameful disgrace. He who Admonition to which he responded honored his parents committed him- with a four-page letter, refuting the self to remedying the desolation of charges against him and demanding their heartache and every other need, the withdrawal of Admonition, or at including economic ones. least the inclusion of his response in the official documents of the Institute. It would be enough to read this long and detailed retort to understand that the Superiors, who tried to get rid of Fr. Villa, hadn’t changed their mind. Villa Carlo father of Father Luigi Villa. Despite family problems, in his activ- ities as the “pursuer” of vocations, Fa- Don Villa with nephew Fulvio ther Villa distinguished himself so son of the elder brother, Renato. much so that he was deserving of a wonderful compliment from the Scot- tish Superior General, David. After half a century, at the time of the can- onization of the Founder, Daniel At the beginning of 1953, he left the Comboni, the Superior General made Institute of Comboni, and at the invi- a quick visit to the Institute of Fr. Vil- tation of the Archbishop of Ferrara, la, and commented to him: «You were Msgr. Roger Bovelli, he was incardi- the greatest Comboni that we have nated in that diocese, to found an In- ever had. You gave more than 120 ternational Missionary Movement. 5 Meetings with Padre Pio Fr. Villa, then went to pray in the chapel of the Convent of Padre Pio. The church was empty as he knelt in In those years, Father Villa continued one of the pews. Suddenly, he sensed his activities as a preacher and lecturer. a presence and turned to see if some- In 1956, he held a series of lectures for one was there: There was a young the graduates of Bari. It is there, after man, exceedingly beautiful, who a lunch of fish, that he was poisoned asked him: «Do you want to meet due to the clams in the spaghetti. Padre Pio?» Informing his friend, Father Berni, «No», said Father Villa, but the young who was chaplain at the airport of man insisted: «Go, go on now, Padre Bari, Father Villa was taken by some Pio is waiting for you.» pilots to the nursing department of the Father Villa turned toward the person airport. There, he was treated by a who had just spoken, but, there was medical colonel. He remained there no one any longer at his side. The per- until he was well. son who had uttered those words had disappeared! Then, he entered the Convent and went to the area of Padre Pio’s room.