Father Vladimiro, the son of Riccardo and Fortunata Bazzacco, was born in Pederobba on June 10, 1911.
This is what he tells us about his vocation: "I was a lively child - like all boys at that age. After elementary school my parish priest asked me 'why don't you become a priest?' I didn't have the courage to respond positively. I was as bothered by that question as Mary was at hearing Gabriel's greeting at the Annunciation. I thought I had to support my mother. I was the last of seven children and she had been a widow for twelve years.
Nowadays we question the authenticity of a vocation at so early an age but we must bear in mind that straitened family conditions often spurred young people on taking decisions and caring of themselves at a relatively young age. I spent late nights at home poring over missionary accounts - I was immersed in the land of Chinese junks. This is where the seed of my vocation was planted.
Days passed quickly in the parish priest's house. We followed a seminary schedule: early morning Mass and meditation (even if I didn't quite know what meditation was). In the evening: the rosary, spiritual reading and the evening service. During the day: work and sometimes study."
The parish priest gave Vladimiro a solid formation that was carried to completion during his years in the seminary. On October 4, 1924 he entered the Institute at the Motherhouse in Turin. A few days later he met the Father Founder. "The occasion was the departure of Consolata men and women missionaries for Somalia. Father Allamano heard me hawking "La Consolata" in the square in front of the sanctuary. He came to look out and I saw him framed by the window above the entrance to the sanctuary. I remember his smile, the happy look on his face. Father Allamano's smile and happy face influenced my initial journey as a little Consolata missionary." Father Vladimiro was always moved when he recalled his meetings with the Founder: he wrote a little poem dedicated to the Founder and was happy to receive sweets from him.
He made his profession in 1929 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1934. He began his apostolate as an assistant and teacher in the seminary at Parabita. After only a year he left for Ethiopia in 1935 and remained there until 1943. It was a turbulent but glorious time he describes in "My Memories of Ethiopia.
Initially Father Vladimiro was sent to the Lekempti mission where he was involved in the school along with building and maintenance at the mission. In 1937 he was transferred to the new mission at Argio which he built up from nothing. His first effort was a large tent for a school. He needed wood for doors, windows and above all the roof. He worked under Brother Isaia Roncalli for two months in the Compto mission carpentry shop to acquire the material he needed for building. The priest's house and the nuns' house were built simultaneously.
He visited villages by mule; he went to Lekempti for foodstuffs; he took charge of the mill Italian authorities had entrusted to the mission. Father Bazzacco always spoke of Argio with nostalgia and a gleam in his eye. It was in such a beautiful spot, the climate was mild, he got along so well with local people. "The days at Argio were alive with people coming and going. They were concerned about me and I of them. I became both a missionary and a teacher for those people - just like the missionaries at Compto and Lekempti. They saw me in my white cassock at home and in the school. I was different from other white people. They watched me closely and discussed me. They trusted me and greeted me with deference. I was invited to the homes of important people and school members, I spoke their language. The new local chiefs were Oromo and they welcomed me at their family celebrations - weddings, births, funerals.
Father Bazzacco had a beautiful horse (Nino) with which he crossed the low-lying plains and nurtured acquaintance and friendship with the local people. Someone in a white cassock riding a horse was a novelty for these people. The women were especially surprised and would say "why don't you make us a present of the beautiful white dress?" From that day on I stopped wearing a cassock among the people - I saved it for feast days and Italian patriotic parades."
Father Vladimiro's days in Argio were his favorite time in spite of the initial difficulties. He was soon joined in his work by Father Angelo Burati with whom he got along very well. Father Angelo was the new arrival and was in charge of the school and the young people. Father Vladimiro looked after development, building chapels, visiting families and engaging in direct evangelization.
He noticed a bell of about 10 kg in an Indian shop window in Lekempti. It seemed ideal for the mission. It was not cheap but Father Vladimiro really wanted it. He skipped buying the shoes he genuinely needed and bought the bell for 17 Thalers. Father Burati hung it in wooden frame and placed it on a tree.
"People asked:
- why is the bell ringing?
- The regular peeling of the bell became a form of catechesis.
- it is ringing the Angelus - the Angel is greeting Mary.
- Mary? who is that?
- The Mother of God venerated by all Ethiopians - except the Muslims.
There were many Muslims locally but they were not fanatics.
- Jesus, the Redeemer of the world, was born of Mary…
Every day the bell repeated Our Lady's appeal. Nobody complained - not even the many Coptic priests. All four Coptic churches in Argio were within the range of that bell - a voice that proclaimed the mystery of God."
But dark clouds were forming on the horizon. When Italy entered the war our dreams for the Argio mission evaporated "we had to leave everything - it was a tragic story, a tragic leave-taking."
On April 1, 1941, Father Quinto Gardetto, the superior of the Lekempti mission and Sister Eliodora traveling to Addis Ababa were assassinated by partisans. Shortly afterwards there was an attempt to kidnap Father Bazzacco and hold him as a hostage. He was warned by his co-workers and managed to avoid the trap. The situation was too dangerous for missionaries who were considered the same as the Italian invaders. With a lump in his throat Father Vladimiro was forced to leave Argio. He traveled by mule to the Vicariate headquarters at Gimma.
When he reached Bedelle - halfway to his goal - he was drafted as a military chaplain and sent to the front at Dembi. While on his way to visit soldiers in an advance position he was noticed by a British fighter plane that began firing at him. He managed to save himself by clinging to a tree. When the Italian army surrendered he was taken prisoner and brought to Gimma. After he carried a prisoner to the hospital no one paid any attention to him - and he was to all intents and purposes free.
He went to the Vicariate headquarters where all his confreres from various missions had gathered. Later they were all transported to a concentration camp at Berbera in Somalia on the Red Sea. Two months later they were sent by ship to Fort Victoria in Southern Rhodesia. He remained a prisoner - along with many of his confreres - for two years. In July 1943 he was sent home.
Superiors recognized Father Vladimiro's ability to handle really difficult situation and appointed him the superior and bursar of the house at Comotto. The Comotto community was over-crowded: fathers, brothers and sisters evacuated from other houses because of the war packed the house. He was also responsible for taking care of the confreres still in the Motherhouse in Turin. Shipments of provisions - vegetables, chickens, eggs, salami and everything else necessary to sustain life - departed from St. Joseph at Comotto for the community in Turin.
While on the missions Father Bazzacco had demonstrated his talents in planning and supervising building efforts. After the war was over he was put in charge of overseeing work on the Motherhouse which had been destroyed by bombs. In 1954 he went to Varallo Sesia and then to Palermo (1957-1960), Genoa (1960-1966) as administrator - and occasionally as superior.
From 1967 to 1970 he was in charge of the Emporio di Milano and from 1970 to 1974 he took care of the paperwork necessary for restructuring the Casa Generalizia.
From 1974 to 1977 he was superior of the Brothers' House at Alpignano. During that time he was involved in rehabilitation work at the Koelliker Hospital with handicapped children and adults - especially those who had suffered from polio. He did this work with dedication and talent. His technical ability and kindness with children inspired confidence and satisfaction.
Subsequently Father Vladimiro volunteered to work as a chaplain at the Cottolengo di Broglio (VC). In 1981, after an absence of forty years, he returned to Ethiopia. At first he worked as administrator of the hospital-leprosarium at Gambo and then did pastoral work at Shashemane.
On June 20, 1984, the feast of the Consolata, all our confreres gathered at Meki to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Father Vladimiro's ordination. Father Edoardo Rasera, the speaker on that occasion, said: "Father Vladimiro's joy for the gift of fifty years of priesthood is a joy we share. If, as he tells us, his life was filled with blessings we are sure that he has shared these blessings with all he encountered. Ethiopia - this land he learned to love from our Founder, this land from which he was exiled for so long, this land whose earth he once more treads - Ethiopia has been the recipient of many of these blessings."
Health problems and his declining sight force Father Bazzacco to return to Italy. In 1986 he was chaplain at the Solatrix Clinic in Rovereto, and from 1989 to 1996 he was an assistant at the Founder's Church. In 1996 he went into retirement at the Blessed G. Allamano house in Alpignano.
On May 10, 2002, at 8:35 AM he suffered cardiac arrest and returned to Our Father's House. His funeral took place the following day. Father Giovanni Genta, who presided at the Mass, recalled his last conversations with Father Bazzacco on the Eucharist, Our Lady, and his renewed consecration to the Institute to which he had given seventy-eight years of his long life. After the community's final farewell Father Vladimiro's remains were interred at Alpignano.
Editors of Da Casa Madre