By CAROLE BRESLIN
Brescia is an Italian city in the foothills of the Alps. It has stunning vistas, ancient ruins, historic forts, castles, and modern buildings standing beside ones that are many centuries old, as well as foundations that date back to 1,200 BC. Brescia was once a Roman province. In the early Middle Ages, it was captured by the Lombard army and then it was taken from them by Charlemagne.
In the 16th century, Brescia rebelled against French control, and eventually became a puppet state of Austria. In the middle of the 19th century, the people again revolted against foreign control, during the bloody and devastating “Ten Days of Brescia.” On April 1, 1849, the last day of that conflict, Brescia lost one of its most illustrious sons. Blessed Lodovico Pavoni died after leading some children away from the doomed city, his final heroic deed.
Blessed Lodovico was born on September 11, 1784 in Brescia to Alessandro Pavoni and Lelia Poncarali. Coming from a somewhat wealthy and noble family, he was also lively and intelligent. He learned quickly and became a skilled huntsman, artist, and equestrian.
Most likely educated at home or close to home, he then began his theological studies, but the advent of the Napoleonic era brought about the closing of the seminaries. This did not interrupt his studies since Fr. Carlo Domenico Ferrari, a Dominican, invited Lodovico into his home to continue his preparation for the priesthood.
Lodovico was ordained to the priesthood in 1807. That same year, he opened the oratory that became a culmination of his lifelong concern for the shortcomings of the society and the challenges facing the youth of his time. In 1808, he received official permission to continue with the oratory.
Like his predecessor St. Philip Neri (1515-1595), Lodovico knew that the most effective way to win these youth was by positive reinforcement rather than by repressive punishments, having read Moral Influences by Pietro Schedoni. This text promoted a personal approach to the social and spiritual formation of young men. The young priest also realized that the reasons for young men falling into bad habits sprung from leaving inadequate schools, peer pressure, and the bad influence of some adults at their workplaces.
He countered the evils of his times — the worldly allurements, the temptations of the Devil, and the internal weakness of man — with understanding, patience, and redirection of youthful energies to more productive activities.
In 1812, Fr. Lodovico became an assistant to Bishop Gabrio Nava. The bishop again gave him permission to continue his work with the oratory. On March 16, 1818, he was appointed to be the rector at the Church of St. Barnabas, and once again received permission to continue his work with the young men. After he opened an orphanage and a vocational school, the bishop instructed him to establish a College of Arts in 1821.
This led Fr. Lodovico to consider how to train the young men in a trade. He finally decided that their first trade would be publishing. The Publishing House of the Institute of St. Barnabas was thus established in 1823 — an organization that is still in existence under the name of Ancora.
Through the years, he added many other trades: carpenters, silversmiths, blacksmiths, shoemakers, and tool and dye makers. In 1823 he welcomed deaf-mutes to the school — one of the very few educational institutions that did so at that time. A short time later he purchased a farm and added an agricultural program to the school.
As his ministries became more and more successful, more men joined him in running the classes and managing the schools. Thus, in 1825, he established a religious institute to carry on the work. Pope Gregory XVI gave formal Church approval to this institute for Brescia nearly 20 years later.
On August 11, 1847, Msgr. Luchi, the vicar capitular for Brescia, established the Congregation of the Sons of Mary Immaculate, or Pavoniani. On December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Fr. Lodovico and his associates made their first profession of religious vows.
Meanwhile, civil distress intensified, leading to conflict when the people revolted on March 23, 1849. Brescia, located in Lombardy-Venetia, was under the control of the Austrians. The people of Brescia rebelled against the authorities, resulting in the Austrian troops retreating temporarily. The Austrians were surprised by the Brescians and withdrew to a nearby castle. From there they annihilated the Brescians by cannons, destroying many landmarks and killing over 1,000 citizens.
During this time Fr. Lodovico, devoted to the salvation of his charges, led a group of them to his novitiate on the hill of Saiano, ten miles away. He, who had served the people of Brescia so heroically during a cholera epidemic, led the boys to safety — his final act of charity.
“The Ten Days of Brescia,” as the conflict became known, concluded on the same day that Fr. Lodovico died, April 1, 1849.
This priest was a loving man breaking the path for social reform in an industrialized society as well as working to reach people through social communications. He firmly believed that improving social conditions would improve the spiritual life and that improving the spiritual life would improve social conditions.
He was a forerunner of Rerum Novarum issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. This encyclical discusses the rights and responsibilities of both capitalists and laborers.
His work in establishing a publishing house for Catholic media was in line with Inter Mirifica, a Vatican II document on the means of communications promulgated on December 4, 1963 by Pope Paul VI.
Lodovico Pavoni’s cause for canonization opened on February 11, 1908. Pope Benedict XV formally introduced it on March 12, 1919, naming him a servant of God. The validation process continued with an analysis of his life and writings and he was named venerable on June 5, 1947 by Pope Pius XII — an honor noting his heroic virtues.
In 1909 Maria Stevani, through Lodovico’s intercession, was completely cured of the extreme typhoid fever which brought her to her deathbed. Pope John Paul II beatified Pavoni on April 14, 2002, quoting Lodovico: “Rigorism keeps Heaven empty.”
A young man who was a member of the Pavoniani, as the religious of the order founded by Fr. Lodovico became known, prayed for his father’s cure. He began a prayer chain begging for the cure of his father, Honorio Lopes Martins, which led to the second miracle. When the prayer chain was completed, begging Lodovico for his intercession, the young man’s father was miraculously cured. Subsequently, Pavoni was canonized on October 16, 2016. His feast is celebrated on April 1.
The work of the Pavoniani continues in the Congregation of the Sons of Mary Immaculate in Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Philippines, and in Eritrea, a small country on the lower west bank of the Red Sea.
Dear St. Lodovico, throughout the history of the Church, the youth have been so vulnerable to temptation and so easily led away from God. Help us to see the work that God wants us to do in saving these souls, in bringing them into and back to the True Church. Amen.
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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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