1916-2003

Brother Mario was born on October 25, 1916 in Envie (CN) the son of Giuseppe Chialvo and Teresa Paschetta.  He entered the Institute in 1955 and made his temporary profession the following year at the Certosa di Pesio.  In 1959 he made his perpetual profession at Alpignano and dedicated his life definitively to the Lord.  He remained at Alpignano for the rest of his life – 46 years.  He spent his whole life as the community vegetable gardener, a task he performed with dedication and art.  The hours he didn’t spend working were dedicated to prayer.

He bore his lengthy illness with patience and serenity, the rosary always in his fingers.  He lived a life of silence and work in the House of St. Joseph, and St. Joseph the exemplar of the silent workingman welcomed him home on the first day of his novena. 

The Regional Superior had these words to say at his funeral Mass:  “Thank you, brother.  Like the founder you have lived the mission for more than forty years in silence here in our community at Alpignano.  Thank you, brother.  You have lived faithfully available to carry out even the meanest of household tasks; you did your work modestly and well.  Thank you, brother.  You were constant in practicing your devotions, in reciting the rosary.”

Fathers Mina and Mondin gave testimonials.  The parish priest thanked God for the vocation he had given to one of his parishioners.  His remains were carried to the cemetery at Alpignano.

Father Giuseppe Villa

TESTIMONIALS

Service as a Mission

After three days of suffering, Brother Mario Chialvo died at 12:45 PM on March 12, 2003.  He was born in Envie on October 25, 1916 and lived in his small village for many years.  The village was well known for the many priestly and religious vocations it produced.  He was no longer a young man when he decided to become a Consolata missionary.  He entered the novitiate at Certosa and made his first profession as a  coadjutor brother on October 2, 1956.  He was assigned to the Casa San Giuseppe in Alpignano the headquarters of the coadjutor brothers and remained there for the rest of his life.  This was something of a record!

He would witness so many transformations at Alpignano.  He saw the Casa go from a crowded house with 150 students in professional and missionary courses to a rest home for priests and brothers returning from the missions when the general vocation crisis occurred.

He was reserved by nature – almost excessively so but from the very beginning he demonstrated a deep-rooted piety and a passionate interest in the house.  It became his mission field.  He never asked to be transferred and this was not a question of indifference.  His commitment to the care of this house was his mission in life.  He took care of everything – doors, windows, faucets, gutters – anything that needed work.  He took care of the flowers, roses, vegetable gardens – he produced greens at every season!  He was meticulous in his devotion to the gardens and spurned half-hearted assistance.  He spared neither muscle nor sweat, smiling and shy, Brother Mario was almost apologetic about the enormous amount of work he did. 

He swept the house before the community went to morning prayers – an exercise he never missed nor was late to attend;  he would show up alert and dressed in his religious habit.  How many times he could be found late into the night praying before the Blessed Sacrament.  How many times he would clean the garden paths and do other chores after supper.

He was always interested in what was going on and would join conversations, listen for a while and then go off to his work.  He would come and go almost unnoticed by others.  Some thought of him as out of the loop – but God only knows how – he was actually very well informed.

Indestructible though he appeared time began to take its toll.  First one problem and then another;  once he went into the infirmary he never left it.  In his last years his bed became a place of suffering.  His rosary was ever in his hand;  he was always happy to receive whoever chanced to visit him and never failed to thank his visitors for their time.  In spite of fatigue he was never too tired to pray;  the rosary provided a framework to his day – just like the breviary for priests.  Everyone agreed that Brother Chialvo was the sort of person the Founder liked.  Father Gioda, the Regional Superior who presided at his funeral said this in so many words:  “Too often we get caught up in hyperactivity – this brother who has just left us reminds us that it is prayer, sacrifice and a life of contemplation that forms missionaries according to God’s heart…”

I visited him three days before his death – but he was no longer smiling;  he didn’t speak to me – his mind was somewhere else as I blessed him.  I understood he had begun the ascent to Calvary.  Farewell, dear brother who was always so quick to say thank you.  Until we meet again!

Father Giuseppe Mina

Always Faithful

I came to know Brother Mario when my office obliged me to make weekly visits to our aged and infirm confrčres at Alpignano.  It was important to him that I come and visit even if there were no special problems to discuss.  He was enjoying good health at the time and was always busy in the cellar, vegetable garden, refectory, courtyard, gardens, etc.  He always had a broom, a dustbin, a rake, shears or a hoe in his hands.  The house and all its surroundings had to be kept in order – his eyes were always downcast surveying every corner of the property.  He would often complain, almost whine, but usually didn’t say much.  He loved solitude – he even ate alone.  When he broke his femur there was no operation and he was bedridden for five years.  It was a long Calvary of physical and mental suffering.  He never left his room not even in a wheelchair.

Attachment to devotional practices marked his days.  Daily communion and so many rosaries!  When his mind began to play tricks on him he burst into tears and complained he could no longer pray the rosary – he couldn’t remember the prayers.  I told him that the genuine desire to recite the rosary along with the humble and sincere admission that he could no longer remember the prayers was the most beautiful and evangelical of prayers to Our Lady the Consolata.  He was moved by this thought – but he didn’t quite agree.  He had prayed the whole rosary every day and intended to remain faithful to this practice.  Then gradually his mind vanished and he went to heaven.  He left behind his rosary and an example of faithfulness to the rule.

Father Giovanni Genta