April web

PERSONALITY
his approval. Giuseppe started
his novitiate after completing his
specialization in London. Those
were very intense years: studies at
the Comboni Institute in Gozzano
absorbed him completely. It was a
hard time for Giuseppe; the rules
of the house were very rigid, all his
companions were much younger than
him and there was no one to share
mature thoughts with. As a matter of
fact, many of them were looking for a
father figure to turn to for advice and
support.
After taking the temporary vows of
poverty, chastity and obedience in
1953, ‘Brother Ambrosoli’ continued
his theology course in Venegono.
His tutors had a special project in
mind for him. His medical degree was
indeed a blessing for the Comboni
missionaries. Father Alfredo Malandra
was an experienced and resolute
missionary; he had been working in
Uganda for years and had asked for an
additional helping hand in northern
Uganda. They needed a doctor.
Father Giuseppe was a surgeon.
Only three years after the beginning
of the third year of his theology
course, Giuseppe received a letter
from the Father General, of the
Comboni missionaries, informing him
that in a few months, he would be
ordained a priest. It was on the feast
for the Novena of the Immaculate
Conception. Giuseppe dedicated
everything to Mother Mary’s care:
‘May she take my priesthood to heart
and may her teachings and God’s will
turn me into a good priest.” (Call Me
Giuseppe, 2017, 27)
Everything was ready; Father
Giuseppe was ordained a priest in
December 17 th , 1955, at the age
of 32 by the Archbishop of Milan,
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini-to
faithfully bear witness to Christ and to
demonstrate his adherence to Christ’s
commandment of love through his
life. (Call Me Giuseppe, 2017 9) A few
weeks after, everything was ready for
his journey to Gulu-the first leg of his
trip to Kalongo.
Fr. Giuseppe left his family and a
brilliant career as a doctor to devote
his life to the neediest. He got
to Kalongo’s small dispensary, in
northern Uganda, in 1956, on a ship
called Africa and there, he remained
until the day of his death, in 1987,
at the height of Uganda’s disastrous
civil war. During his thirty years as a
missionary priest, Father Giuseppe,
who is remembered in Uganda as
the ‘Doctor of Christy’ managed
to transform a small dispensary
into a modern and well-equipped
hospital and founded St. Mary’s
Midwifery School, now one of the
best midwifery schools in Uganda.
Faithful to St. Daniel Comboni vision,
he has left for future generations the
best example of how it is possible to
“Save Africa with Africans.” Is this
how it all ended? No. That story of
dedication to helping others and of
“
And today, this
300-bed hospital
facility provides
treatment
to thousands
of children,
women and men,
with unfailing
professional care
and love.
“
human perseverance continues to
this day, through the Foundation set
up by the family and the Comboni
missionaries, who picked up Father
Guiseppe’s legacy to provide
support and continuity to this miracle
of love. And today, this 300-bed
hospital facility provides treatment
to thousands of children, women and
men, with unfailing professional care
and love. Next to the hospital and the
operating rooms, the school is also in
full operation.
Como, Milan, Kalongo; Thousands
apart, Father Giuseppe and his work
were able to shorten the distances
between the Hospital and the
Foundation, Ugandan doctors, and
Italian volunteers, the need to receive
and the desire to give. “The operating
room had become his sanctuary” as
one of the nuns who collaborated
with him put it.
Father Giuseppe was a ‘martyr’,
namely a ‘witness’ to faith in Christ
and to Christian love, to which he
dedicated his entire life, his thoughts
and his energies. (Call Me Giuseppe,
2017, 12) On August 23 rd , 1952,
during his spiritual training, he
wrote in his personal journal: “we
must remember the imitation of
Christ, that is, that praise doesn’t
add anything to what we are; what
we are, we are. We are no greater
than what God sees in us.” (Call Me
Giuseppe, 2017, 13)
According to Mario Calabresi, (Call
Me Giuseppe, 2017, 8) the life of Fr.
Ambrosoli shows us how courage,
care and volunteer work can give
meaning to life and fill it with hope and
love. It teaches us how to get rid of
regrets, cynicism and indifference -the
greatest diseases of contemporary
society. Father Giuseppe breathed his
last on March 27 from kidney failure.
Fr. Guiseppe Ambrosoli’s beatification
is set for November 2020.
APRIL 2020
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