Father Mario Zanardi
(OCTOBER 8, 1904 - NOVEMBER 19, 1941)
In Soncino, a village between Cremona and Treviglio, on October 8, 1904, Mario, the second of thirteen children is born to Luigi Zanardi. Perhaps it is from his father, a traveling merchant, that Mario inherits his spirit of initiative and enthusiasm.
Calm, exuberant and expansive at the same time, Mario has a great imagination, so much so that at the parish youth center, he is able to get the other boys interested in music, painting, and mechanics. It is here at the youth center, while taking care of the smaller children, that he begins to develop his spiritual life and priestly vocation. So, at the age of 16, a year after the death of his mother, he decides to enter the diocesan seminary of Cremona.
But little by little the desire to be a missionary begins to grow in him. On February 9, 1925, a Mission Club is officially established at the seminary, with the expressed purpose of instilling missionary awareness in the students. Mario jumps into the activity, and even when he transfers to the P.I.M.E. seminary in Monza after his second year of theology, he never forgets his "roots." He remains so attached to the Mission Club that even from China he would never fail to send letters to its members.
At the P.I.M.E. seminary in Monza, even though he is taken up with his studies, Mario's creativity continues. During his free time, he engages in endless "experiments" with wood and plastic, activities which will be useful to him in the missions, especially in renovating the poor chapels of the Christian communities. He is still enamored by music and the theater as well, so much so that he writes a missionary play, which is performed with great success.
On June 11, 1927 he is ordained a priest. After a few weeks with his family, he leaves for China.
On August 17, on board the steamship Venezia, he begins what he calls "my honeymoon," although he is so seasick throughout the entire trip that he cannot even celebrate daily Mass.
The tiring journey lasts three months, during which he has long conversations with the ship's doctor, the Indians confined to fourth class, the baggage handlers, always speaking of the Christian faith. Finally he arrives at Shanghai.
The last stage of the journey, from Hankou to Kaifeng, where he has been assigned, is more exciting. The train has been taken over by communist soldiers and the civilian passengers are forced to ride in the cattle cars, with constant stops along the way. But Fr. Mario consoles himself: "Come what may, this can't be worse than the sea! Besides, what are these discomforts compared to the perilous expeditions of our first missionaries!"
In Kaifeng, his first duty is to learn the language:
"The bishop gave me a book and a teacher. Tomorrow I begin to study! If not for the Lord, I don't believe that I would ever be able to learn Chinese. But with His help and His love, I'm going to learn not only to speak it, but to read it, write it, and even sing it. The Christians here always sing so well!"
Only four months later, that which seemed impossible is a reality: he can hear confessions in Chinese and in the Christian communities the faithful marvel that he can speak their language like an old-timer. He knows that he must thank the children for their patience in repeating the pronunciation of simple words to him over and over again.
In 1948, a year after his arrival, the bishop assigns him to the district of Weiche, where everything must be built from scratch. It will require great enthusiasm and good will, and Fr. Mario is just the man for the job.
"Weiche is the place I have been assigned. There really is nothing there, and I need to begin to build from the ground up. But the courage and grace of God are always with me," he writes in June of 1929.
"Oh, the life of a missionary! Those who come must be prepared to suffer and to live a life of exile ... In my letters, I describe for you the roses; I don't need to tell you about the thorns, because you can read them between the lines."
Yet, Fr. Mario is not depressed. Weiche is a vast district, with only a very few poor Christians, who are spread out in small, far-flung villages, fifteen or twenty kilometers apart, in an area infested with bandits.
"The poetry of the missionary life is nice to see and read about ... But I'm also happy to be a missionary in the midst of great difficulties. When my heart is really burdened, I go to church and pour it all out to God. Sometimes He is the only one who understands me ... After a while, I can pick up my work and move forward once again."
He prepares catechists, opens schools, starts a health clinic, and according to a fixed schedule, it is he who attends to the sick. "Don't you know? I have become a famous doctor! But those who care for their lives don't place themselves in my care!" In this case, as in others, he demonstrates an exceptional ability in organizing what is most needed to respond to the needs facing the people.
Yet, just when the district is in full swing with activities, he receives the order to transfer to another area. As always, Fr. Mario is ready to obey, but such is not the case among his faithful, who in order to keep him with them, send many requests to the bishop, including a delegation of the most influential and eloquent people of the district. But they do not prevail, and Mario privately prepares for his departure: while another delegation is on the way to Kaifeng, he takes the opportunity to leave. Early in the morning he mounts the motorcycle given to him by the bishop, and heads for Dingcunji, his new assignment.
"Others could live there, and I will too!" This was his response when the bishop proposed this district, which no one goes to willingly because it is so far away from the mission, situated on the borders of three provinces and full of bandits.
The bishop wants to send him there not only because of his initiative and drive, but also because he is young and a great motorcyclist besides, which can represent safety in that area. Indeed, there would be numerous times when Fr. Zanardi was thankful for the speed of his motorcycle!
On April 30, 1932, for example, while he is instructing the catechists in church, a cry goes up: "Daofei lai (the brigands are coming)!" Aware of the danger, Fr. Mario opens the tabernacle, places the consecrated host in a pyx around his neck, hops on his motorcycle and heads out of the city. The brigands invade the residence, searching for him. They set out to chase him by horse, but luckily he is already long gone.
Many times Fr. Zanardi has to deal with the brigands:
"A large band, which seemed far away, began to approach the town. They are coming, three, five thousand of them. Are they going away, are they coming closer? They're here! From the tower of Dingcunji, you can see a circle of fire; some villages are in flames. Crowds of frantic people scurry to escape. They are at the wall of the city, pounding on the door; when it is finally opened, the streets of the market are teeming with people who are angry and agitated; everyone is looking for family or friends and seeking shelter. Even in the garden, along the surrounding walls, small huts spring up with clay walls and straw roofs."
Fr. Mario becomes a builder to provide shelter to the refugees, and when the storm has passed, all return to their villages to rebuild their huts and start their lives over again.
Fr. Zanardi takes advantage of a calm period to organize a formation course for catechists, visit the villages on motorcycle or bicycle and begin the catechumenate:
"In the fall, I began a small catechumenate in the city, but I had a hard time gathering together just a few women. The catechumenate is something new here, and nobody dares to come; a thousand doubts and suspicions keep these poor people away from us at first. There are many obstacle to the Word of God. In my frequent visits to the villages, I see many people, especially the elders, run away as soon as I show up. At first, some people shut their doors and stayed inside, trembling, until I went away. Then after a while, my presence didn't scare them anymore: they were persuaded that the good Lord, whose missionary is a humble servant, is a God of love and goodness ... Many hopes are becoming a reality; numerous families are coming to the Christian faith. May the Lord always preserve in them this initial fervor, so needed in this poor land beset by revolutions and brigands."
But even with these good results, trials are never far away, as Fr. Zanardi writes: "In the missions there is suffering, and if not for God's daily sustaining help, no one would be able to live this kind of life." This is the only power he possesses, and it is capable of sustaining him even when he knows that he is placing his life at risk.
Certainly in facing the dangers, he is also helped by his youthful, open character, which could win over even the harshest of the soldiers and bandits.
In the fall of 1936, Fr. Mario is named local vicar of the vast district of Luyi, which includes Dingcunji and some very old Christian communities. He begins to feel very strongly the repercussions of the war, the uncertainty of the situation, the rising prices of commodities, the misery of the people; in the face of this reality, many of the beautiful projects he has in mind are put aside.
The bands of brigands continue to proliferate, spreading ruin and destruction, so much so that Fr. Mario writes to the Mission Club of the Cremona seminary:
"You in the peace and serenity of the seminary, we in the midst of dangers and war which sometimes cause us to wish for heaven as a place of sweet rest: we are all united in prayer. We need your love and your prayers for the Lord's mercy and pardon for our many weaknesses ... Always follow me with your prayers, especially at this time, since we are in the middle of the horrors of war and bandits."
Indeed, in the spring of 1938, as if the brigands were not enough, the Japanese arrive with their own brand of destruction, violence, and rape. Fr. Zanardi is barely able to get the Chinese sisters and female catechists to a safe place. When the Japanese move on, the brigands return to take over the area, stealing from the poor people what little they have left after being impoverished by the war and the floods of the Yellow River, which reduce the huts of the villages to piles of muck covered with rancid straw.
In an already tragic situation, the following winter brings an immense number of desperate people to the Catholic mission looking for a little food. A bowl of black broth is distributed twice a day, but this depletes the meager resources of Fr. Mario, who desires so much to alleviate, if just a little bit, such suffering.
Fr. Mario, meanwhile, finds himself pushed from one commander to another, until he doesn't know who is in charge anymore. In 1939 he writes: "In three days we have changed masters three times: Chinese, Japanese and brigands, one after another plundering the last supplies of provisions ... We live every day completely in the hands of the Lord." This is the power which enables him to continue and even to find reasons for joy.
In the summer of 1939, while the Japanese are occupying the city for the third time, Fr. Mario receives a tandem bicycle, a gift from his friends in Soncino. No gift could have been more appreciated! Now he can finally travel together with the catechist, who is also the altar server, secretary, interpreter, advocate in quarrels between Christians and non-Christians, and, in the absence of Fr. Mario, even a judge.
With the tandem, Fr. Zanardi can take everything he needs for the celebration of the Mass, for catechesis, and evangelization activities: books, devotional objects, pamphlets. The Christian communities can be visited more often and at Christmas time he can more easily get to different communities to celebrate the Mass. He is truly happy!
A tandem bike: a dear gift which reminds him of his faraway homeland, to which he is still very attached. Happy to have been able to put together a rudimentary radio, he can now follow events in Italy, as he gets up at 3:00 a.m. to catch an Italian news program. This is a great sacrifice for him. To wake up again in the morning, he not only has to use two alarm clocks but he also orders one of the domestics to knock on his door.
"Yet, you who live with modern conveniences cannot even imagine what sweet company that radio is to me, as it brings me news of home. Yesterday, I had the good fortune to hear the pope, and I can tell you that it was a great comfort for me to hear his sweet voice in this immense country of China."
Strong, spiritual, happy, but also quite sensitive and affectionate for his family, Fr. Mario maintains strong emotional bonds and is not able to hide his homesickness for very long. On June 3, 1940, he writes to his family:
"Yesterday, my spirit was sad and as gray as the sky. I thought about all of you, of things past and present; of my friends who have died or who have lost their way. I read your long letter, which reminds me of so many things, twenty years distant by now, and with such memories, my eyes filled up with tears. I couldn't keep from crying. I stayed awake until dawn. Then, finally, I was able to sleep."
1940 begins with many problems, unfortunately all too familiar ones. There seems to be no hope. "Send me what you can: the misery is great here; just leaving the house brings tears to your eyes."
In the fall however, there is a great consolation. Bishop Barosi, his fellow citizen and classmate, arrives in Kaifeng. They are finally able to embrace after 15 years! Together, they celebrate the centenary of Blessed Jean Gabriel Perboyre, a French missionary martyred in Henan in 1840.
A year later, when Bishop Barosi decides to visit Dingcunji, Fr. Zanardi accompanies him. On July 18, not having received any alarming news, and even though Fr. Zanardi knows that in this district, considered "no man's land," the Italians are not appreciated, they leave early in the morning on the tandem bike, followed by two domestics on bicycle. Both are aware of the danger, yet Fr. Mario is happy for the chance to see old friends. Along the way they meet Fr. Zanella and all three continue together to Dingcunji; they arrive at 4:00 in the afternoon and find Fr. Lazzaroni waiting for them.
Everything seems peaceful. But the general situation is so tense and confused that no one can ever tell what the next day will bring.
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