Enzo exhibition at the 45th Rimini Meeting
A great deal of interest, an extraordinary turnout
“An immense emotion.” “A boundless gratitude.” “An encounter in the flesh.” These are just a few of the hundreds of messages that, at the Rimini Meeting, visitors left after following the exhibition on Enzo Piccinini “I took you as my own,” promoted by the Committee for the Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the ascent to heaven of the Servant of God and the Enzo Piccinini ETS Foundation.
Yep. 25 years later! But the intensity of Enzo’s presence does not diminish. “I compared my life to his. I discovered myself, with surprise, in action with the same gratitude for the good by which I am surrounded. I am, moreover, reading ‘Dearest Friend.’ I find in Enzo an enlightened and sanguine soul. A saint!”
The numbers say there were more than 20,000 visitors. This dilated interest confirms that Enzo is a living person, generating a “desire to be in the things of my life at a greater height and depth”; “to start looking at my heart again, with Enzo’s eyes.”
An important role in catalyzing the interest of many (especially young people) in Enzo was played by the publications about him: “I renew my affection for him after reading the three books about him. Great teacher of faith, lived without sparing a drop of energy in daily life. It’s really true: compared to his impetus, one cannot remain indifferent: either you detest him or you become passionate about him.” “I thank you because in days filled with intense questions and some labors, being able to feel and see the Beauty, Greatness and Love for which we are made has woken my heart a little. Now I run to read the book, I thank you again.”
For those who had already known Enzo, the exhibition was a new sip of joy: “In 1998 I was at the Clu exercises and he appeared by surprise to speak. I had heard so much about him from the people in Rimini at the Meeting. But when he started to speak I was completely taken with him in a way I had not imagined. He was so reminiscent in his impetus and way of speaking of Gius. You could really tell he was talking about things he lived. There I understood for the first time what CL and Giussani’s proposal was. I would have liked to have met him in person later, but unfortunately it was not possible; it is one of the biggest regrets of my life. But for me that experience was so intense that I feel like I knew him very well. For me that time was the turning point of my life. Even now years later, now a father of four children, I often go back to that intervention when I am struggling and need to start over. If he was a son to Don Giussani surely I can call myself one of his many sons around. Enzo Piccinini is a father to so many, that the cause of canonization not only gives me great joy but I think it was also the most logical consequence for what he was with his life.”
The testimonies emphasize that Enzo is alive and working: “In November Enzo guided the hands and minds of the surgeons who performed emergency surgery on me. He started his presence even earlier, when from Bardazzi’s book I rediscovered his figure and started asking him everything and entrusting me and my family to him if something happened. And so he did, first guiding my heart to face the unexpected operation with an inexplicable peace and offering of me to the Lord. That night was, like so many other times, the instrument of a Miracle; but the greatest one was not even my physical salvation, but my rediscovery of the beauty of life lived in offering myself to Christ, which makes it possible to be restless (as I also am), and even angry with God and the Movement (as I was at that time), but to be fertile ground for God, who works where He finds space. The space that the question and the cry create in people’s lives. Thank you.”
The daily influx of visitors to the exhibition had high points each evening at 7:30 p.m., when close friends of Enzo met to tell those who had not met him about him. These “tales from around the world”, introduced and led by surgeon Simone Zanotti, featured people with very different professional backgrounds on stage, united by the same indomitable passion for the man, which was Enzo’s defining characteristic.
Lisa Bellocchi
