In the twentieth century, Father Giovanni Battista Manzella embodied a very sublime priestly and missionary ideal that inspired numerous priests and religious. In fact, the biography that Father Antonio Sategna wrote about him was particularly popular in the Italian seminaries of the 1950s, where it was read in community, especially during spiritual retreats.

John Paul II himself took up this great “priestly ideal” embodied by him in the words he addressed to the Sardinian bishops during his first ad limina visit in 1981: “I cannot but recall the diligent and unforgettable work of Fr. Manzella, apostle of Sardinia, in which he spent nearly forty years catechizing, traveling from place to place. First as spiritual director at the Seminary of Sassari, and then in his ‘missions’, he always had the love and assistance of the clergy as his passionate ideal, sustaining them with his unwavering faith and his tireless work. The whole life of Mr. Manzella shows how necessary it is for clergy and religious to be in harmony in the various parish, diocesan and regional tasks, and how easy it is to achieve this, if desired, according to the directives of the document ‘Mutuae relationes‘.”

Priestly and Vincentian Vocation

Giovanni was born on January 21, 1855 in Soncino, a traditional medieval town in the province of Cremona, Italy, and was baptized the following day in the parish church of St. James the Apostle as Bartolomeo Giovanni Battista.

After finishing his technical studies, he began working with his father Carlo as a mattress manufacturer, first in the village and then in Castello Brianza, just outside Lecco, where he moved with his parents in 1875. In the meantime, his younger brother Ezechiele joined the diocesan seminary in Cremona. In November 1880, Giovanni Battista found work in Cremona as a clerk in a hardware store. There he learned about St. Vincent de Paul, mainly through the charitable work of the Men’s Conference of St. Vincent [today known as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul].

When Ezechiele was ordained a priest, Giovanni, who was already 29 years old, was able to enter the Villoresi Institute in Monza, where late vocations were received. He studied there for three years. His spiritual director, however, directed him to the Congregation of the Mission: “You are called to obedience; you will wear a biretta,” he told him [the priests of the Congregation of the Mission were known by the biretta they wore on their heads]. And it was prophetic.

On November 2, 1887, he went to the Mission House in Turin and on November 21, he took the Vincentian habit in the novitiate of Chieri. There he was literally molded by the Rules of St. Vincent, which were organized, as far as spiritual formation was concerned, around the asceticism of humility, simplicity, meekness, mortification and zeal for the salvation of souls. During the six years of formation for the priesthood, he made such progress in these virtues that his whole life and ministry would be profoundly characterized by them, becoming a living image of the holy Founder. In particular, humility and mortification would enable him to serenely endure humiliation and even calumny, following the example and teaching of St. Vincent, heroically opting never to defend himself before any superior.

On February 25, 1893, at the age of 38, he was ordained a priest in the chapel of the archdiocesan seminary of Turin.

Shaped by obedience

The first seven years of priesthood were almost entirely devoted to the formation of the young, allowing himself to be shaped by religious obedience in his many assignments. In 1893, he was director of the apostolic school in Scarnafigi (CN) for eight months, and then director of novices in Chieri (1893-1898). In Como (1898-1899) he was entrusted with preaching popular missions. After about two years he was appointed again to Casale Monferrato (1899-1900), as disciplinarian and treasurer of the Diocesan Seminary. The seminarians realized that they were in the presence of a missionary saint.

In November 1900 he was assigned to Sardinia, to the Tridentine Seminary of Sassari, as spiritual director. The opinion of the major superiors at that time was already showing a certain conviction of the sanctity of his life. In fact, Father Emilio Parodi, Visitor of the Mission, wrote to Archbishop Marongiu Delrio: “ At this time I am sending you Fr. Manzella as Spiritual Director of the Seminary, a holy missionary…. I will never regret having sent him to Sardinia”.

In 1904 he also undertook the preaching of the popular missions, and the following year, at the age of fifty, destined with exclusive dedication to this ministry, together with Fr. Antonio Valentino (1869-1946).

Preaching to the people

His first missions made him aware of the need to preach in the parishes. “The people beg for bread, but no one is there to deliver it!” was his bitter comment at the mission of Pattada (Sassari) in 1904, when he saw the religious ignorance of the people and the lack of zeal of the priests. He took up this ministry with enthusiasm and dedication.

He also finished his position as superior of the Mission House of Sassari (1906-1912), and resumed the activity of “full time preaching” uninterruptedly until 1926, when he was again assigned to the Seminary of Sassari as Spiritual Director.

These were thirteen years of a particularly intense and fruitful apostolate, which made him known in all social strata of Sardinia: from Sassari to Nurra, Gallura, Logudoro, Goceano, Meilogu, to Bosa and Oristano, Nuoro, Barbagia, and with frequent stops as far as Iglesiente, Ogliastra, Campidano and Cagliari.

In this regard, the testimony of Professor Remo Branca is valuable:

“I used to meet Manzella everywhere: each encounter was a crucial lesson. Those who, like me, have visited Sardinia in its most remote corners, know that the island was truly known and visited by three men, who took between fifteen and twenty years to get an accurate, even detailed, view of it. Alfonso La Marmora, who studied the island from a physical and military point of view, gave an imperishable account of it in two monumental works: in Viaggio in Sardegna and in Itinerario; Luigi Vittorio Bertarelli traveled it for 17 consecutive years to write the famous Guida del Touring; and, finally, Manzella, who traveled it for 37 consecutive years. Apart from the greater number of steps and years, we must now proclaim, in view of the history of the island, that the safest Guide, for us poor pilgrims, was composed by the latter, who wrote less and walked more.”

Tireless apostle

“Let us convert the people!” had been his first youthful dream back in the hardware store in Cremona. The Vincentian formation of the novitiate, therefore, had oriented him toward the “evangelization of the poor, especially in the countryside,” where St. Vincent had experienced, with greater intensity, the religious ignorance and the desertion of the clergy, who were moving massively to the cities. Finally, he had made his own the heartfelt invitation of his founder: “Let us give ourselves resolutely to God, let us work, let us go to help the poor peasants who are waiting for us…”.

A worthy son of St. Vincent, he was aware that “whoever says missionary, says man called by God to save souls, because our aim is to seek their salvation, after the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only true Redeemer… and Savior.”

Father Manzella made this his priestly project. Thus he was able to devote himself, above all to the ministry of confession, the pillar of the popular missions, for up to 20 hours a day with complete availability. In the mornings, during his free time from preaching, he would go “fishing in homes” in search of sick or elderly “stray sheep”. In the late afternoon, then, he dedicated himself to the confession of the men, hearing confessions until eleven o’clock and up to midnight. For this reason, he often resolved that for four hours it was not even worthwhile to go to bed; and he preferred to rest, in a spirit of penance and for the success of the mission, in the armchair or the chair in front of the table. On a mission at Berchidda, one night he literally fell into a deep sleep in the confessional, from which he did not awake even when he was carried by the men from the chair to his room and was left there in the middle of the room.

A characteristic of his missions was the famous trumpet, borrowed from the town crier who went around the city to give important announcements. He was called “the trumpeter of Christ” because this is how he was known not only by the children of the villages, but also to the farmers in the Sardinian countryside. This is how he is still remembered today by the elderly who knew him in the thirties, when he was already an octogenarian:

“Every day Father Manzella would go out in the village playing his trumpet. We children would leave the house and go to meet him. We would hold on to his long skirt and, doing the little train, he would take us all over town. When we arrived at the church, as there were no seats, he would make us sit on the floor. He would say to us: ‘Children, be good, the Lord is looking at you, loves you and protects you!’ And so he began to make us pray and to teach us the catechism.”

In his writings we find some significant hints of the spirituality of his apostolate:

“In these days, as on other occasions, a thought came to me that appears to come from God. I say that Jesus leaves me barren, but He works in me in another way. I feel much love for saving souls.

I work without rest, and I do it not to be seen or to be praised but because I know that it pleases Jesus. I am ashamed to say it, but many of my brothers do not feel like sacrificing so much. Who gives me that good will and that sacrifice? It seems to me that it is that same Jesus who denies me a little fervor.

In these days I have been confessing to the point of no longer understanding anything. Only when my head was no longer able to take it any more, only then was I able to say no to those who were looking for me.

These are the works of Jesus. This thought consoled me. I thank the good Jesus with all my heart. Do with me as you wish.”

Evangelizing by word and deed

His style of ministry was another of his characteristics. In an era influenced by an anti-clerical socialism, he knew how to put into practice the Vincentian principle of “evangelizing by word and deed”. Thus, Manzelli’s popular missions, mostly focused on the sacraments of Confession and General Communion, culminated in the founding of the Ladies of Charity and the Conferences of St. Vincent, and later followed by other foundations: Kindergartens, Orphanages, or particular Associations, such as the Pietadina to combat “Sardinian mourning” [a custom that deprived women of sacramental and ecclesiastical life even for several years], the Catholic Workers Societies to contrast with the homonymous socialist-inspired ones, the Association of Christian Doctrine, etc.

Above all, the numerous Confraternities of Charity, male and female, gave Sardinia the first place on a national level in charitable commitment in 1923 and 1924. As a formative link for the more than 250 groups of Ladies of Charity, from 1923 to 1935, they published the monthly bulletin “La Carità.”

Also in Sassari, numerous charitable institutions were founded directly or inspired by him: the Infant Jesus Shelter (1903), the Divine Providence Home (1910), the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb (1911) and, in his later years, the Institute for the Blind (1934). In central and northern Sardinia, he was responsible for the Bonorva Children’s Orphanage for children of combatants (1915-1918), for the Orphanages of Sorso (1918), Tempio (1921) and Olbia (1923), for the Nursing Homes of Ghilarza (1923), Oschiri (1923), Orotelli (1925), etc.

For this reason, that is, because of his great charitable activity, he was rightly considered the Saint Vincent of Sardinia and knew how to win the hearts of all people, believers, Freemasons and socialists alike. A true father of the poor, he never refused them alms, even going so far as to give them his own shoes!

Friend of Priests

As a humble and trusted advisor to priests, he knew how to captivate and impassion them during the preaching of spiritual retreats, which were requested by all dioceses, from Sassari to Iglesias and Cagliari. And this in his fifties and even in his eighties.

“His faith shone through his whole person, through all his behavior. His persona led us to look to God. We all remember him as he preached: what unction, what fervor! Above all, his eyes, his beautiful eyes that shone with heaven, made us glimpse the treasure of faith that dwelled in his soul.”

And Bishop Tedde added in 1949: “If at times he had demonstrations of ecstatic tenderness towards the Lord and the Immaculate Virgin, the circumstances of his life tell us that these expressions, these ‘moments of paradise’ manifested the conclusion of an interior torment, of a great intimate battle for the complete and sincere victory over his own character with the means and resources of the purest asceticism: assiduous prayer (he spent long nights in conversation with Jesus in the Eucharist) and austere penance, which bent his character towards exemplary modesty, simplicity, humility, obedience and charity.”

A true friend of the priests, he gladly accepted any request to preach in the parishes, for the patronal feasts or for the Triduums of St. Vincent, as animator of the Groups of Ladies scattered throughout the island. His life was always on the move, always among the people, from village to village, able to suit all kinds of people. This is how Bishop Fraghì recalled it in 1948:

“His mission had no limits: in church, in the squares, by train or carriage, on horseback or on foot, wherever he felt the need to deliver the treasure of faith to those in need. He made use of every means: of theological science, which he knew how to expound in an admirable way: astronomy, for which he had a great passion; news, which he knew how to extract from the newspapers; folk tales, which he knew how to tell in a pleasant way; illustrated posters, which were used to explain the catechism ; and even magician’s tricks in which he had become a master … everything served his apostolic mission and enabled him to better spread the doctrine of Christ.”

In retreats he often paused on the centrality of the Eucharist for priestly life:

“Priests! Jesus is in our hands. I, priest, give him life, I keep him in the Tabernacle. He will only come out when the priest chooses to do so. The tabernacle is always closed, in some countries even the church is always closed. What are churches? The prisons of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The priest is the guardian. He prepares Him, he guards Him, he delivers Him…”.

In another priestly retreat, he concluded his meditation in this way: “On returning to your homes, go to the [image of] Jesus in your village before entering your homes. Kneel before Him and say to Him: ‘Jesus, I will comfort you from now on. I will no longer be your sorrow, but your comfort. I will draw many souls to you. I will satisfy your infinite love by giving you as many souls as I can…’. Let us also sing the hymn of thanksgiving to our God, our Jesus, our Friend, our Elder Brother…”.

Master of spiritual life

Another distinctive facet of his apostolate was the spiritual direction of souls consecrated to God in religious institutes or in the secular life. Suffice it to mention the Servants of God Edvige Carboni, Leontina Sotgiu and Mother Angela Marongiu. Wherever he went, he aroused a particular fascination for an intense spiritual life, which often led to the consecrated life. He was a true promoter of vocations: how many nuns and priests owe their vocation to him!

The letters he addressed to them express numerous aspects, still little known, of his rich spirituality.

To Leontina he wrote: “Jesus gives each saint a unique character and this will be the physiognomy that will distinguish us in heaven. With gratitude receive what Jesus gives you. Leave everything in his hands…”

In January 1914, from the mission in Castelsardo he wrote once again to Leontina: “Let us work, dearest daughter, for the sanctification of souls. Jesus wants it so. If a word of yours instills faith, why not say it? If a letter of yours can edify, why not write it? Will you not rejoice if in heaven you find more souls singing the glories of the Good God? We must put aside the fear of pride. I would leave to go to the Missions, and in the Missions to do all that I do. We will talk about it. Angela also has her mission. She prays that God will soon fulfill her plans. In the meantime, she is already doing very well with her personal prayers and exhortations. Pray for this mission… The bells are ringing; it is all over for today too (5 a.m.), let us harness the carriage, I must go to Jesus and Mary”.

Thanks to this collection of letters, we also learn about some characteristic aspects of his Marian spirituality. In 1913, from the mission of Perfugas, he wrote: “What titles should I give to the Most Holy, Most Beloved, Most Beautiful, Most Good Mary? Who knows. Do you want me to make a general confession? I do. Nothing is denied to Leontina. Listen to me. I think on the Blessed Virgin who, with her Child in her arms, goes from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. In that mystery I contemplate her good, good, good, I seem to see her. Celebrating Holy Mass, I lift the Holy Host, lower it and place it slowly on the corporal, as if it were the Blessed Virgin Mary placing Him in the cradle. And I say: ‘My Jesus, my hands are dirty. I place You on the altar, as Your most loving Mother placed You in the cradle’. When I cover the Chalice already consecrated, I cover it with the love with which the beautiful most loving Mary covered her most beloved Son. Sometimes I think that if the Blessed Virgin and her Child were in a house and threatened, I would stay outside, under the wind, under the rain, suffering sleep and mortal discomfort for all eternity, to defend the dear Immaculate Mother of my Lord. Do I speak falsely? I think not”.

This Marian character of his life is enriched by other elements, which we will not deal with now.

In 1927, he fulfilled an old dream of his by gathering the first Sisters of Gethsemani around the co-foundress Mother Angela Marongiu (1854-1936). Above all, he conceived this new religious institution as a response to the problem of so many young women who, in order to fulfill their ideal of consecrated life, traveled to the continent, where, however, in a different culture and environment, they no longer felt at ease and returned disappointed to their own countries. Thus, in harmony with Mother Angela’s spirituality, he gave them a double character: apostolic activity and contemplative life; an apostolate especially among the poor girls of the region, in order to insert themselves worthily into professional work, but also a spirituality centered on the Eucharist and the Passion of the Lord.

Fr. Giovanni Battista Manzella CM, founder of the Sisters of Gethsemani, with the group of the first sisters. Digitally restored image.

The death of a saint

In 1934, he was once again sent from the Turritan Seminary to the Mission House in Viale, in the hope of being able to devote himself more to the care of his Sisters; he was, however, still being asked to preach, both to the people and to the clergy.

No longer having strong legs, he willingly accepted to travel with the famous “calessino” pulled by donkeys, both in the city and in the surrounding villages. This is the last image of him engraved in the memory of many, still alive, who remember him with veneration.

The illness that led to his death lasted only ten days: a cerebral hemorrhage caught him in the middle of preaching, completely depriving him of his sight: not in Sassari, but in Arzachena, where he had been sent for a triduum in preparation for the pastoral visit.

Those were the days of Manzelli’s apotheosis: there were so many courtesy visits, especially from the poor, that he had to be lodged in the parlor of the house. Everyone wanted to greet him and receive a last message from him: priests, nuns, lay people from all walks of life. “I am the happiest man in the world!” was the last expression he gave of himself, in those days, responding to a priest from Ozieri, who had come to visit him.

He died on Saturday, October 23, 1937, at four o’clock in the morning, surrounded by his confreres and sisters who had watched over him during the agony of the night.

For the people it was natural to say that “Saint Manzella” had died. In fact, everyone had been calling him that for years, when they met him in the streets of Sassari and asked him for a blessing for their child or sick person.

The manifestations of esteem and veneration peaked with the solemn celebration of his funeral in the cathedral of Sassari on October 24, 1937. On that occasion, Archbishop Arcangelo Mazzotti could not avoid expressing publicly what was already the general opinion of the Sardinian population, who had known and esteemed him: “Without rushing or anticipating the judgment of the Holy See, we can nevertheless affirm that Fr. Manzella is a saint”.

In 1941, his body was transferred to the crypt of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, near the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Gethsemani. This church, dear to him and today in the vicinity of the hospital centers of Sassari, has always been a continuous destination of pilgrimage. In particular, it is the sick who go there to entrust themselves to this saintly priest before hospitalization, returning afterwards to give thanks for the health they have regained.

His life and priesthood are simply outstanding to those who in some way were able to know him. This is attested to by Bishop A. Mazzotti himself, who used these words at his commemoration in 1947: “Today, ten years later, the esteem, the affection, the conviction of the holiness of the old missionary are far from diminishing. Pilgrimages to his tomb are continuous, the confidence in his intercession has an impressive growth. Yesterday’s conference in the Sciuti Hall was a great success: the crowd was so large that it could not be fitted into the hall, and many unfortunately had to give up listening to the memorial address. This morning, this cathedral gathers such a crowd that it recalls the one that attended in such large numbers the funerals. What is the secret of this popularity, of this attraction exercised by the figure of Fr. Manzella? … It is undoubtedly the sanctity of his life”.

Every year, on the anniversary of his death, his priestly and missionary life is commemorated with a special celebration presided over by the Bishop, in which the people of Sassari and the neighboring towns participate with a special regularity and devotion, which today, after so many decades, are truly impressive and prophetic. It is the visible sign of the confident expectation of the Sardinian people for the glorification of this Servant of God, who became “Lombard by birth, Sardinian by heart”.