From Russia with love. Let’s talk about the story of the blessed brother Luigi Bordinowhich is revived through a pilgrimage from Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Fiori in Bra and gets to Castellinaldo.
This year it has reached its 8th edition and took place (exceptionally with the reverse path from Castellinaldo to Bra) Saturday 25 June with the organization of the Parish and the Municipality of Castellinaldoin collaboration with Catholic Action And Italian Sports Centertogether with the association Castrum Aynaldi, Diocese and cottolenghina familymaking use of the Alpine groups and civil protection operating in the places affected by the 27 km long route.
The aim was not only to provide a breath of fresh air, which can be breathed in the woods and vineyards, but to make known the spirituality of those who knew that path well, after having done it by grace received. Let’s talk about Brother Luigi Bordinoproclaimed blessed by Pope Francis on May 2, 2015, who then set his liturgical memorial for August 25.
The pilgrimage was the final stage of a program that culminated in the Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Fiori with the Holy Mass at 5.30 pm, presided over by the bishop of Alba, Monsignor Marco Brunettiassisted by the rector, Monsignor Giuseppe Trucco. Then, the procession towards the ancient sanctuary, where the bronze statue dedicated to the blessed brother Bordino was inaugurated and blessed, who took his place in the loggia on the right of the façade, in the shadow of the Madonna who was a beloved Consoler for him.
An Alpine hat, a lab coat and medical instruments: simple objects but full of profound meanings and therefore capable of telling an extraordinary life. This is what one sees when observing the simulacrum of the blessed.
So much admiration of the faithful gathered in front of the new statue, which will pair with that of the blessed Giacomo Alberione, housed on the left side of the facade, to complete a work of great spiritual impact.
The party continued in friendship in the garden of the Sanctuary with dinner and music to complete an afternoon which, previously, had allowed the participants to visit Palazzo Mathis and the birthplace of Cottolengo for a return to the origins of Brother Bordino’s devotion.
Official biography in hand, Andrea Bordino was born in Castellinaldo on 12 August 1922, the third of eight children. He lives his exuberant youth between the house, the paternal vineyards and the parish. Attracting children and young people, he was appointed delegate for aspirants and then president of the parish Catholic Action.
In January 1942, he enlisted in the Cuneense Alpine Artillery, where he found his brother Risbaldo, who had returned from the Albanian Campaign. On August 15th the Bordinos leave for the famous Russian Campaign. The command of the Fourth Artillery Regiment is based in Sollonscki, a village between Valujki and Rossosh. Fallen prisoners in January 1943, the Bordinos together suffer the tragic retreat for about a month.
On a freezing night with freezing temperatures, Andrea and Risbaldo vow: «If we return to Castellinaldo, we will make a pylon at the Madonna Consolata, near our house». Clinging to each other, the two brothers pray all night. At the first light of the morning they are surrounded by over 200 corpses. Bordino are separated in Akbulak. Andrea is destined for Siberia, where he remains there for two years. Reduced to a human skeleton, he is interned in the Spassh hospital.
He continues to pray, comfort and support the wounded, the infectious and especially the dying. He encourages everyone he can: “Let’s pray a Hail Mary. If I return, I become a friar and I want to dedicate the rest of my life to serve the poorest sick in a state of neglect “. In the spring of 1945, together with a group of survivors, he moved to Uzbekistan, where cotton is grown.
Andrea is still dystrophic, he cannot work, so he remains in the hospital of the camp. Struck by petechial typhus, he eludes the poor surveillance of the Mongol guardians, penetrates the infectious and the dying, taken to the Death Shack where no one touches them until their death. And he takes care of them as best he can, to relieve them of the bedsores.
In the autumn of 1945 the Bordinos returned to the family. Andrea considers himself miraculous, he understands the gift of God and decides he cannot enjoy it alone. On 23 July 1946, together with his sister Ernestina, he knocks on the door of the Little House of Divine Providence in Turin. “I wish to consecrate myself to God among the Brothers of St. Joseph Cottolengo, to serve the abandoned poor”. Wearing the religious habit he takes the name of Brother Luigi della Consolata. Ernestina takes her veil by taking the name of Sister Pia.
An exemplary man of prayer, he dedicated his life to the service of charity, out of pure love for God. Alongside doctors and nurses, he achieved a flattering professional career. At the same time he lives an enviable experience of interior life, which reaches the frontiers of the mystique of service. In the poor he serves Jesus. Among them he sows faith, optimism and hope, as he has already done with the desperate people of the Soviet concentration camps. He lives literally on “Caritas Christi urget nos” in the spirit of St. Joseph Cottolengo.
In 1975, he suddenly suffered from myeloid leukemia. For two years he continues to repeat: «Deo Gratias, these are the days of Divine Providence! Deo Gratias always ». Inexorable illness destroys his body, but he continues to bless God: “I finally have something to offer to the Lord”. He goes to meet death, singing the goodness of Jesus and the beatitudes. He does not stop praying with the rosary.
Brother Luigi died in Turin on July 25, 1977. The fame of his holiness immediately assumed significant dimensions, starting with his funeral, which ended at the monumental cemetery of Turin where the participating crowd exploded with the singing of the Magnificat. Since 1997 his body rests at the Little House of Divine Providence.
The solemn beatification took place on Saturday 2 May 2015 in the Vitali Area of Parco Dora, in Turin, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, representing Pope Francis. At the end of the celebration, Monsignor Cesare Nosiglia, archbishop of the capital, said: “Brother Luigi was an example of what the Church needs: few words and concrete facts in favor of the many people who find themselves in moral, economic, family and health difficulties”. Deo gratias.