A Relative Saint
August 11, 1996
Brother John Raymond
Have you ever met anyone who is a relative of a Saint? In our
country that doesn't happen very often. So I was surprised to
receive a phone call from Barbara who was a distant relative of St.
Anthony Gianella. Five years ago, Barbara learned from her second
cousin, Dr. Virgil Gianelli, that St. Anthony was his great
grandfather's nephew. Dr. Virgil follows in St. Anthony's footsteps
in his commitment to the poor and the sick.
Barbara learned of my article (Catholic Twin Circle, May 14)
about the Saint from her uncle, Bill Gianelli, who was is in a
convalescent hospital in California. The sisters who ran the
hospital gave Bill my article on the saint. Bill sent the article to
his niece Barbara, who is not Catholic, by the way. She was so
excited to see something written about St. Anthony Gianelli in the
United States as he was from Italy that she decided to track me
down.
Barbara wrote me a letter detailing her visit to Italy where she
saw the places where the Saint lived. She saw the shrine of Our Lady
of the Garden where the Saint liked to pray. A painting on the
garden wall (from 1493) of Our Lady is preserved inside the
cathedral at Chiavari. Barbara said, "It was hard to believe we were
standing in the church where St. Anthony was pastor and the town
where he founded Figlie di Maria SS. dell'Orto (The Sisters of Our
Lady of the Garden.) She told me she read about St. Anthony
receiving the "Miracle of the Swallows" there in 1835. I have no
idea what this miracle was but since she found a bird's feather
there she brought it home as a fond remembrance.
Barbara visited the Sisters' motherhouse in Rome and was shown
the Saint's relics. She got to "sit in the chair he used when he was
bishop of Bobbio." The sisters took her to visit Cerreta, the
birthplace of the Saint. Barbara was given a tour of the Gianelli
house "and got to see the room where our saint was born and where he
tended the fire as a child and studied by firelight...Then a priest
from the neighboring village of Castello arrived to give Mass in the
little Cerreta church. Although we don't understand Italian, it was
one of the most moving experiences of our lives."
Barbara is not the only one who contacted me about this Saint. A
short time ago on Compuserve, a computer online service, I received
an e-mail from Thomas J. Gianelli, M.D. He said, "I have just signed
on to WOW and from curiosity called up the family name 'Gianelli' on
the Internet. There, I found a beautiful prayer to St. Anthony
Gianelli."
Dr. Tom related that
he was a member of the Serra Club. He had attended the International
Convention for this club in Genoa, Italy over a year ago. While
there he visited the same places Barbara had. He said he was going
to give a talk about the "Life and Times of Saint Antonio Maria
Gianelli" to the Serra Club.
Now Barbara, Dr. Tom and even the Sisters of Our Lady of the
Garden were curious how I ended up writing about this obscure saint
in our country. The answer was not very edifying. I had to write
about three saints for a Church History class I once had. Being
pressed for time I looked for short biographies in our library. St.
Anthony Gianelli won because his biography fit into a thirty-three
page booklet! In thinking about the response I have received
concerning this saint I thought perhaps it is because this year is
the 150th anniversary of his death.
So what does all this have to do with prayer? Perhaps a lesson
could be learned from a lady I know who makes a special effort to
pray to unknown saints. She does this because she says, "They're not
as busy as the more popular ones." Now I don't know about busy
signals for prayers directed to busy saints but I do know that the
saints are filled with zeal to intercede for us. They rejoice when
we pray to them. Perhaps we give a special joy to those saints that
have been forgotten when we pray to them. It might be a good
practice to learn about and pray to these FORGOTTEN saints
from time to time. Why not make a new friend?